


at best, you'll find a little remedy

by salvatorestjohn



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feelings Realization, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Getting to Know Each Other, Kaleb Hawkins is a Bennett, Kissing, Mid-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 10:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 31,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21372742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salvatorestjohn/pseuds/salvatorestjohn
Summary: "Uh-uh. I gotta be seeing things."Lizzie stiffens. Finally, something familiar that she can actually find a reason for. Except, that can't be right. Her brow furrows and she spins around on her heel. But sure enough, she's right. Kaleb stares back at her over from the edge of the balcony, the disbelief written all over his face."What the hell are you doing here?" she asks, taking quick strides over to him.Kaleb's eyebrows raise as he scoffs. "What am I doing here? On my roof in the middle of the summer break with my family?"
Relationships: Lizzie Saltzman/Kaleb Hawkins
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	1. I gotta be seeing things

Georgia wasn't exactly on the list of places that Lizzie expected to end up in during the summer break. No state was, for that matter. She's already gotten used to sights of Germany and Switzerland, and taking the shuttle to Rome, and the Scottish highlands. 

Even if the majority of her time during the visits have been spent with shrinks and doctors and the odd healer, she was still enjoying seeing new parts of the world. Georgia doesn't exactly make the list.

She's tried to insist that the healer they found in Aberdeen was perfectly fine, but her mom is convinced that there's an even better one in Georgia. Lizzie blames her aunt Bonnie; she called a few days ago and then her mom was suddenly gushing about some amazing healer that was known for some sort of neuroscience, with their own magical touch, of course. 

They were bound to return to the states eventually, she supposes, what with it being close to the end of summer break. She can't help but wish it would last longer as they walk up a set of stairs through some building. Josie's been keeping her updated through all of their magical facetimes, and things don't sound that great at home. At least not with their dad, anyway.

He's apparently taken up residence in one of the local bars — because he's still avidly avoiding the Grill at all costs thanks to her uncle Damon now that he's out of a job — and Josie's having to keep an eye on him. She still attempts to convince her to come out and join her and their mom in Europe, but she refuses every time. Lizzie is certain that she's having more fun talking about all of her issues, even if in Georgia, than Josie is bound to be having with _Landon_. She doesn't even want to think about what's going between those two.

"You know, you still haven't told me where we're going," Lizzie says as they finally reach the top of what has to be the fourth set of stairs. "And I still don't get why you have to leave me with these people."

Her mom sighs, but she's smiling as they stop on the landing and she turns to her. 

"It's just a precaution," she repeats, having told her the same thing on the plane. "I'll go, check out the healer, and then I'll come straight back and we'll get you an appointment. Besides, _these people_ are relatives of your aunt Bonnie, and they're being kind enough to take us in while we're here for the weekend."

"If they're her relatives, then why have I never met them?" Lizzie counters smugly. She doesn't get why she can't just go with her mom to check out this healer. It's not as if they're going to be dangerous. Surely Aunt Bonnie would never suggest someone who could be a risk.

Her mom doesn't falter like Lizzie thought she would. "Actually, there should be a couple of familiar faces. That's why they agreed."

"What does that mean?" Lizzie asks warily. "Who's here? Because — aside from that brat Stefanie, Pedro, Uncle Damon and Uncle Enzo, I don't remember meeting a single member of her family."

"You really have to give Stefanie more of a chance," her mom says, and walks past the two doors on their right.

Lizzie scoffs, gaping after her. She hurries to follow around the corner, stopping alongside her mom in front of a door. 

"Easy for you to say," she retorts, crossing her arm, "that devil in training is always little miss perfect around you. You don't get to see what an absolute nightmare she is — she tried to hex me!"

"She didn't mean it," her mom says, pausing to glance at her again. "She's still not used to her magic, you know that. You have to remember what you and Josie were like when you were learning. Josie nearly set you on fire on a daily basis and it was like a hurricane had been in the room every time you tried to do any spell."

Lizzie narrows her eyes, scowling at the door. She has no idea how her mom knew that Stefanie didn't really mean to try and hex her, but she does make a sort of good point. Magic is hard, as she's learned. But Stefanie Salvatore is still an obnoxious, infuriating little brat in her eyes. Maybe if she didn't somehow make friends with all of Lizzie's arch enemies at Mystic Falls High they would be alright, but she has purposefully made herself one of those enemies through association.

She doesn't respond as her mom knocks on the door. It's probably just Lizzie's imagination, but she's almost certain the little silver number hung on the front shimmers. Then the door opens, revealing a girl. 

The first thing that Lizzie notices is that she's cute. The second is that there's something strangely familiar about her. She takes in the box in her arms, confused, and looks back up at her face. She has to be the same age as her, she's sure. The question of why she isn't attending the Salvatore School crosses her mind.

If she's a relative of Aunt Bonnie's then there's a good chance that she's a witch, and Pedro was enrolled pretty much right away so she isn't entirely sure why this girl hasn't been. Then she remembers Stefanie's protests to joining them. Bennett's can be irritatingly stubborn about their magic. 

"Hi, Kym," her mom greets the girl with a warm smile. "I don't know if you remember me, but—"

"'Course I do, Mrs Salvatore," the girl — Kym, apparently, which Lizzie is trying to wrap her head around her mom knowing — cuts her off, flashing her a bright smile in return. She nods her head behind her. "Everyone's up on the roof. My parents can't wait to see you. Something about that school of yours and some voting thing?"

Lizzie's eyes narrow, but she tells herself it's not that strange that this random girl she's never met before once in her life knows about her dad being voted out of the school. Except it is, and she's suspicious. Unless Pedro's been for a family visit sometime recently and decided to spill on what happened, which she can't see him even remembering in that little forgetful head of his, then there's no good reason for her to know that. 

Her mom grimaces, obviously catching onto what she's talking about as well. "Yeah, I kind of thought that would come up. Well, I actually need to go and do something first. It's only gonna take an hour, two at most. I will catch up with your parents when I get back, but for now..."

She turns to Lizzie, her smile back in place.

"This is my daughter, Lizzie. Would you be okay with helping her settle in while I'm gone?" 

Lizzie rolls her eyes. Great. A tour guide. More like a babysitter. Maybe she should have gone home early. 

"Of course," Kym says, her eyes darting over to her.

She seems to look her up and down discreetly as if seizing her up. A smirk ghosts across her lips. Lizzie's eyes only narrow further at the glint that appears in hers. She can already tell that she knows something about her. But what, Lizzie wishes she knew. This girl seems to know a lot of things, and she also seems annoyingly content with keeping them to herself.

"Great. Okay," her mom turns back to her, "I promise you I will be back really soon. Just...relax, sweetie, yeah? Enjoy yourself while I'm gone. I love you."

She presses a kiss to her head, ignoring the scowl that stays etched on Lizzie's face, and quickly ducks into the house to drop the bags and suitcases off before waving a quick goodbye and heading back around the corner and down the stairs they just walked up. Lizzie doesn't know whether to be more annoyed that her mom is refusing to take her to the healer in case they're dangerous or that she now has to go and socialize with a bunch of strangers.

A few familiar faces, her mom's voice reminds her in her head. At this point, she isn't holding out hope that they're going to be good ones. Knowing her luck, Stefanie's stopped by for a visit. That would just be the cherry on top of all of this. 

Kym motions for her to follow her, which she does, though reluctantly. She closes the door with one hand, then begins leading her up the next flight of stairs.

"So," Kym says, and glances back at her with that smirk, "you're Lizzie Saltzman."

It's not even a question. It's just a statement, an observation with a little too much emphasis. 

"Funny how you say that like you know me," Lizzie comments. "And yet, I'm at a bit of a disadvantage; I know nothing about you except that you're somehow related to my aunt Bonnie."

"I only know bits and pieces," Kym shrugs, reaching the landing and taking the next flight without break. "Like that you're a special kinda witch and you have a twin sister named Josie. You like to play hero, you're pretty hot, especially when you use your magic. Oh, and you dated some wolf dude."

Lizzie stops, staring at her. "Have we met before? How the hell do you know all of that? And —_ hot_?"

Kym doesn't even falter in her steps, and Lizzie hurries to catch back up with her. They have to be close to the top of the building by now, surely.

"Not my words," Kym says.

Lizzie frowns, glancing down at herself. She's wearing that new blue and yellow top with the strap that goes behind her neck with the flowy dark blue skirt that stops just at her knees. Her hair's pulled into a messy braid on her right, a few curled strands hanging loose. She looks pretty hot if she does say so herself. 

"Then whose words are they?" she asks, looking back over at Kym, her curiosity growing with frustration. 

They reach the top of the stairs before she can answer. Rather convenient, Lizzie can't help but think as Kym pushes the heavy metal door open with her shoulder. Lizzie huffs but follows her out onto the roof when she holds it open for her. 

She's immediately hit by the warmth of the sun, shining down on every inch of the rooftop, not a single wisp of a cloud in sight to dilute it. As she glances around, her arms crossed and taking a slow step forward, she takes in everyone already basking in the warmth of summer. 

There are far too many people for her to count, but she's guessing at least thirty. They're all milling around or lounging in chairs by the balcony, or laughing in groups while sipping on drinks. She silently questions if they're all related to her aunt Bonnie. Surely she can't have this many relatives without Lizzie knowing at least a few of them. The Bennett line was supposed to be small, almost extinct. Yet, they seem to be thriving and growing faster than a typical coven.

"As much as I'd love to give you an introduction to everyone here," Kym says, and Lizzie's pretty sure she's being at least partly sarcastic, "I just got back today and I have a lot to do."

"Wait, you can't just leave me!" Lizzie protests. "You promised you'd help me settle in."

"I'm sure that my brother is more suited for that job," Kym replies, that ghost of a smirk returning. It seems so natural, too, as if she's almost always got something to be secretively smug about it. "I think he's here somewhere. Have fun."

Lizzie gives one last disbelieving noise, trying to get her to stay. But Kym passes her and heads back down the stairwell, letting the door close behind her. Lizzie just stares at it for a moment, trying to decide what to do. She could just follow her and insist that she isn't leaving her. After all, she is officially the only person that she knows here. 

She turns away from the door, scanning back over the rooftop. Sighing, she starts walking again. If she's going to be staying with some of them for the weekend, she might as well spend some time with them. 

Nobody spares her much more than a glance as she passes through as if in some maze. One woman does shoot her a sceptical look, but she sends her a slight nod of acknowledgement before turning away. Lizzie's confusion grows as she looks away from her.

Her eyes immediately lock onto a boy, standing in a small group with three other people. He's looking right back at her. Lizzie falters under his stare. His eyes might just be the brightest shade of green that she has ever seen.

He smiles at her, a red plastic cup halfway to his lips. Her eyebrows raise, but she can already feel herself relaxing. She straightens up and smiles back at him, composing herself to go over and talk to him. Why shouldn't she have a little fun while she's here? That's what her mom told her to do, and she intends on listening to her. 

"Uh-uh. I gotta be seeing things."

Lizzie stiffens. Finally, something familiar that she can actually find a reason for. Except, that can't be right. Her brow furrows and she spins around on her heel. But sure enough, she's right. Kaleb stares back at her over from the edge of the balcony, the disbelief written all over his face. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asks, taking quick strides over to him. 

Kaleb's eyebrows raise as he scoffs. "What am I doing here? On my roof in the middle of the summer break with my family?"

Lizzie stops short, her mind thrown for a loop. "What? Your family? You're related to my aunt Bonnie?"

"Yeah, she's my cousin," he tells her, and Lizzie's thought process is a complete mess as she tries to wrap her head around that and the fact that she's only just finding out.

He nods his head over at the boy who smiled at her. Green eyes, as she is officially calling him in her head.

"And so is he. So, he's off-limits, alright?"

Lizzie's shoulders drop. "You can't just decide that someone's off-limits because they're related to you," she argues. "I would never tell you that you can't date Josie."

"That's because I've never wanted to date Josie," Kaleb points out, making a face. 

He's right, of course. It's always fine until they start to express an actual interest in Josie, then Lizzie can't stand the thought. She's her twin sister, she's supposed to protect her, especially from people who could break her heart. That's one of the reasons she almost wishes she were at home to stop their resident loner phoenix from hitting on her like he is so obviously doing despite Josie's obliviousness. 

"Look, he just got out of a relationship," Kaleb goes on in explanation, shaking his head. "It was bad and messy, and he just doesn't need to be dragged into another one this soon. Especially not when you can't even leave the school on weekends."

Lizzie huffs and rolls her eyes, but she does see his point. "Fine. I won't try anything. Even though he has extremely nice eyes."

Kaleb shakes his head at her, the corners of his mouth twitching. He waves a hand at her, leaning back against the balcony.

"What are you doing here anyway?" he asks. "Thought you were off in Europe or whatever."

Lizzie hesitates. It's a simple question, and it could require a simple answer. It's easy enough to just say that she's in town for the weekend for no good reason. But his family have agreed to let her and her mom stay, and she's almost certain that they'll know the reason why they're even in Georgia. Lying would be pointless. 

"Aunt Bonnie told my mom about some healer that lives around here," she says, keeping her tone casual as if she's shrugging it off, no big deal. "She wanted to check them out, see if they really live up to their reputation. Apparently, you and your family are being kind enough to let us stay with you for the weekend."

That clearly comes as news to Kaleb. His eyebrows shoot up, then crumple, drawing together, and he doesn't seem to know how to feel about that. Lizzie would laugh if she wasn't finding it a little weird as well. It would have been lovely if her mom had given her a heads-up on just who she would be staying with. It's not exactly as if she and Kaleb are friends. 

"Uh, that's...that's cool," he says, but she can tell that he's not being entirely sincere.

There's something he's not saying, and she's sure it's probably along the lines of him not wanting to spend any time with her outside of school. What she's not getting is why he's not coming right out with it; she doesn't know him well, but she knows that he's not one to not speak what's on his mind. 

"Then I should probably tell you you're not the only visitor we've got," he says.

He nods his head at something behind her. She spins back around in confusion only to immediately realize what he's talking about. MG's a few feet away, laughing with Kym about something. He's got that look on his face that he always gets around Josie, and he seems far more relaxed than he ever has around Lizzie. 

She stares at them in disbelief, scoffing. "So much for having a lot to do. She clearly just wanted to hand me off to someone else so that she could spend more time with MG. Which — what is even going on right now?"

"Trust me, I've been asking myself the same thing," Kaleb says with a slight smile. "But he's moved on from you, Saltzman. I'm not exactly ecstatic about him moving on with my sister, but if it means I don't have to spend another day listening to him talk about you then I don't care."

Her brow furrows and she glances back at him. 

"No offence," he tacks on, but she wasn't taking any anyway.

"Kym's your sister?" she asks. 

Kaleb nods, and she looks back over at them. Suddenly she can see why she had thought Kym looked familiar. It's clear that she's at least a year older than Kaleb, but the resemblance is unmistakable. Lizzie shakes her head as MG starts laughing again and Kym smiles at him. 

She's a little mad that Kym lied and ditched her, but they do look pretty happy. And if MG has stopped harbouring the crush he had on her because of Kym, then she's happy for him. That wasn't going to end well for anyone, so this is certainly for the best.

"Well, at least now this weekend isn't going to be excruciatingly awkward," she says, deciding to let that be the truth.

If MG is truly over her, then there's nothing to worry about. Besides, he's one more familiar face to make her feel far less uncomfortable than she had thought she was going to be surrounded by strangers. Her mom's words come back to her and she realizes that she knew they were going to be here. She could have at least told her instead of giving some vague hint.

Kaleb makes a noise of agreement, though he doesn't seem too convinced. But when Lizzie looks at him again, he's relaxing right back into his normal self, the surprising revelation of her stay already being brushed off. 

"Alright," he says, his mouth curving, "how 'bout we get you settled in? I think we should start off with an introduction to a few more members of my family. Sound good to you?"

Lizzie's eyes narrow at the mischievous glint in his eyes and the bright grin that's settled onto his face.

"No, I think I'm—" she starts to say, deciding it's probably safer for her to shoot his offer down. 

"Nonsense," he says, already draping an arm around her shoulders. "You'll love them, they'll love you. Come on."

He's already walking forward, making her move with him. He's up to something, she can feel it.

He tilts his head and quietly adds, "it'll be just like that boyfriend cover story you made up when we were quarantined. Just go along with it, yeah?" 

Lizzie's eyes widen, her head whipping around to stare at him. "_What_?"

Surely he can't mean what she thinks he does. Hers was a cover story, and not to anyone that she was actually close with. 

"Uncle Earl!" Kaleb calls as if he didn't hear her, which she is well aware that he would be able to do if she were all the way back on the street below them. 

They come to a stop and Lizzie stares up at the man who turns around at Kaleb's voice. He's not much taller than them, but she thinks it's the stone-faced, almost wild-looking eyes that's got her stomach dropping. Kaleb wants her to go along with whatever ridiculous idea he has with this man?

"Wanted to introduce you," he says, and Lizzie's considering making herself invisible. They're witches, too, they would know it was magic, but at least it would get her out of this. 

But Kaleb's still got an arm around her shoulders, and the possibility that this uncle isn't actually a witch crosses her mind. 

"This is Lizzie," Kaleb says, looking her in the eyes, grinning. She glares at him as he turns back to his uncle. "My friend from the Salvatore School. Her old man owns the place. Dr Saltzman?"

Lizzie's heart jumps a beat and then she sinks with relief. Kaleb glances at her again, his grin stretching as her glare intensifies. 

"Oh, well, then it's very nice to meet you," his uncle Earl says, and that stony exterior cracks with a grin resembling Kaleb's as he reaches a hand out to her. She accepts it, and he shakes with such a firm grip she startles a little and faintly wonders if he might be a vampire as well. "Wish I had a school like yours when I was growing up. Might have figured out a spell to regrow my hair after I accidentally cut half of it off instead of walking around with a hat for a year!"

At least that answers the question of his supernatural heritage. Lizzie eyes the hat sitting at an angle on his head but laughs along with him and Kaleb as he lets go of her hand. 

"I'm gonna go show her around a bit," Kaleb tells him, and his uncle nods, gesturing for them to go ahead. 

As they turn away from him and begin walking slowly in the opposite direction, Lizzie crosses her arms.

"I can't believe you were playing me," she huffs. "What kind of host are you? I am supposed to be your guest, which means that you are meant to be_ nice_ to me. Not make me think that I'm going to have to come up with some completely absurd story about us_ dating_."

Kaleb actually has the audacity to laugh, and she's half-tempted to shove his arm from her shoulders. She doesn't bring herself to actually do it, though, and she does have to admit it wasn't the worst thing he's done. 

"You were actually gonna go along with that, weren't you?" he asks. 

Lizzie scoffs, her skin heating up. It must start to show on her face as his amusement only grows. She rolls her eyes and stops walking, forcing him to do the same. She finally turns to him, making him drop his arm. 

"No," she says, sure that she would have backed out at some point. "And even if I did, it would have been because I didn't want to embarrass my_ friend_. Which, clearly, is far too generous of a word to be using."

Kaleb raises his hands in mock-surrender, his grin settling into a smile. "Alright, do you want an apology? 'Cause I just thought you looked like you could use something to lighten you up a bit. You got that whole tense look about you, and you mentioned a healer, so."

Lizzie stops. She hadn't realized that it had been that obvious. In truth, she is tense. Meeting a new healer always stresses her out and makes her anxious, because they all say different things, or sometimes even the exact same thing: "we can't help you."

It's always the same, no matter how many tests they do. At least the therapist lets her get it all out so that she doesn't explode, and the doctors are figuring out the best ways to help her with the bipolar part. The healers make her feel like a lost cause. Her mom has promised they won't stop until they get actual results, though. 

She realizes that Kaleb was just trying to help after she told him about the healer. A tiny bit of guilt twists inside of her. 

"I suppose I could use some fun," she agrees, glancing down at the ground. 

"Alright then." Kaleb drops his hands as she lifts her eyes back to him, his mouth curving back into that grin. "Let's have some fun. I got a few other relatives if you wanna actually make something up. Or you could use some of that witchy stuff. Could be pretty entertaining depending on what way we go with it."

Lizzie can't help but raise her eyebrows at him, smiling despite herself. 

"You want to _prank _your relatives?" she asks, and Kaleb spreads his arms. "Aren't they witches?"

"Yeah, but you're tryna tell me that you haven't been pranked with magic before?" 

"Good point." Lizzie straightens up, tilting her chin out as she considers it, then shrugs. "Alright. I'm in."

"Okay. Let's have some fun."

And fun they have, to her surprise. She wasn't expecting to find watching Kaleb's auntie Terri swat at an invisible bee buzzing around her head so funny. Kaleb directs her, pointing out a cousin of his that's about their age and is apparently Mystic Falls High hooligan levels of obnoxious.

Lizzie happily twists her wrist to the side, jerks it up, then across, and lowers both hands as if forcing down some building pressure with a smirk as she mutters the incantation, her eyes fixed on the cousin. The cup slips from his hand the second he goes to take a drink, popping out of the air and leaving nothing in its place.

The cousin — Jeremiah, Kaleb informs her — stares at his hand in confusion. The bunting that was wound around the pillar behind him has already slithered down like a snake. It taps at his shoulder with its pointy little flag. He whips around, but the bunting is already gone from his sight, the other end crawling up his right arm and onto his shoulder, curling around the limb like a friendly snake.

So it's maybe not the most skilled or mature prank she's pulled. But it certainly makes her laugh when Jeremiah tries to pull it off and it only grows more sentient, wrapping around his other arm as well and nuzzling him. He catches on and curses before waving his hand and making the bunting go limp, falling to the ground in a pile at his feet.

The mild commotion draws the attention of a few people nearby, including Kym and MG. Lizzie's enjoying herself too much to really notice as Kaleb claps a hand onto her shoulder, laughing along with her. Jeremiah glances around with narrowed eyes and they quickly stifle their laughter, trying to act natural. 

"Alright, I think we deserve a celebratory drink for that," Kaleb says, and she glances back at him to agree. "Back in a minute."

He drops his hand from her shoulder, his fingers grazing her back, and she turns as he walks away. Her eyes follow him as he winds smoothly through his family, pausing for a moment as one of them catch him with a smile and bring him into a conversation. 

Movement a little to the left catches her eyes. MG seems to have finally spotted her, approaching her quickly with wide-eyed confusion as if he's expecting her to be some sort of mirage. The second he reaches her, though, his face splits into a grin. 

"Lizzie! Hey," he says, already spreading his arms as if to hug her, but he then hesitates. 

"Hey," she greets back warmly, and steps forward, holding her own arms out in invitation. She never would have before the summer break, but he was pretty cool those last few weeks, and she's willing to admit that she would call him her friend. 

His face lights up and he relaxes, hugging her. She searches for Kym over his shoulder, but she's gone from the spot they had been talking in. Maybe she does have things to do after all. That doesn't mean she isn't still suspicious for knowing so much about her, even if it's not a lot.

Unless MG really has been talking a lot about her, but that just isn't something any sane person does when around someone else that they like. Unless they're Lizzie. She's made that mistake twice in her life and regretted it immediately afterwards. 

"What are you doing here?" he asks when he pulls back, his confusion returning. 

"My mom's looking for some healer who apparently lives around here," she tells him, dismissing it with a wave of her hand despite the concern that quickly appears on his face. "Kaleb's family are relatives of my aunt Bonnie, so they're letting us stay here for the weekend."

MG pauses at that, his eyes widening further. Nervous doesn't even begin to describe the look on his face. It's familiar and she thinks that Kaleb might have been wrong about his feelings for her really being gone. But it's fast-fading as he nods slowly, swallowing visibly, something else taking over. He actually relaxes, something that he rarely does around her.

"That's great!" he says with complete sincerity, to her surprise. "I've sort of been crashing here as well, but — don't worry, the guest room is still free since I've been in Kaleb's room. He thought it would be a good idea for me not to spend the summer thinking about how my mom works for an organization that wants to kill my entire species."

Lizzie raises her eyebrows, and she's realizing that maybe she should have paid a little more attention when everything with Triad was going down. Or at least thought to check up on MG afterwards. She had plenty of opportunities, but she just assumed that Josie would, and she was technically right. But she still feels a little bad. 

He dismisses it as easily as she did with her own problems a minute ago, though, smiling.

"It's been fun. And, now that you're here, it's gonna be even better." He then falters for a second and his eyes dart off to the side as if wanting to look for something. "Last time I talked to Josie, she was still back at the school, but is she...?"

Of course. Lizzie's mouth curves and she almost feels bad about having to shake her head. 

"No, she's not here," she tells him, and he half-deflates. She sighs, maybe with a touch more exaggeration than needed for emphasis. "She has apparently decided that _picnics _and _movie nights_ with our resident phoenix and supposed saviour from Malivore is better than spending quality time with her dear twin. Frankly, I don't see why she's falling head over heels for him, but we all have our own tastes, I suppose."

MG's face doesn't quite fall but twists with even more confusion, his brow crumpling. 

"Wait, Josie likes Landon? As in...she—"

Lizzie nods, humming her confirmation. MG stares somewhere at the ground as if searching for an answer as to how on earth that happened. Honestly, she's been trying to answer that question herself the last few days. But Landon is strangely cute, in a hobbit sort of way. Plus, he's the only phoenix in the world that they know of, so he definitely has that working for him, not to mention the whole saviour thing.

"Speaking of," she presses on with a fast-forming smirk, getting him to look back up at her, "I've heard that you have a new love interest yourself."

She nods over to where she's finally managed to spot Kym, mingling with a group of girls. MG spins around and quickly realizes what she's talking about. He tuns back to her, a sheepish and very family shy look crossing his face. He's smiling, though, seemingly unable to stop himself. 

"Uh, yeah," he says, nodding. "Yeah, Kym and I are...well, I'm working on it. She's great, and I—"

He shakes his head, pausing to get his words right, and Lizzie can't help but think this is the first time she's seen him like this.

"I just really want this to go well between us, you know?"

It's incredibly sweet. This is exactly the side of him that Lizzie would have wanted to see when he had feelings for her had she shared them for him. She's hoping as much as him that it goes well, though she doesn't voice that part. 

"Kym does seem pretty great." She then lifts her eyebrows, sucking air in through her teeth, and seeks out the familiar face that should be back by now. "But I've heard that she has a less-than-ecstatic brother, and, well, I'm pretty sure he could kick your ass. No offence."

Her point feels quite proven as MG follows her line of sight over to Kaleb. He's clearly showing off to some of the younger kids, all of them seemingly amazed by his vampiric abilities. He jumps up into the air, higher than any human could manage, over their heads and onto the very edge of the balcony behind them. 

They squeal and giggle with excitement when they realize. Kaleb grins, so bright and happy that it actually takes Lizzie by surprise.

Her head tilts as she watches him throw one of the glass bottles he's holding up into the air, disappearing in a blur. He reappears in the blink of an eye on the top of the stairwell with the bottle safely in his hand. The kids erupt into another fit of amazed giggling. 

Something seems so different, she can't help but think, her curiosity growing the longer she watches him. He seems different. Maybe she just wasn't paying much attention before, she supposes. He never gave her much of a reason to outside of the last few months. But now...

"Yeah, he probably could," MG agrees with a nervous chuckle. "He's been working out a lot over the break as well."

Kaleb jumps back down in one swift motion, landing in front of the kids and laughing fondly at their wonderment.

"I can tell," Lizzie says without thinking.

She catches MG glance at her with a strange look on his face, but her eyes are still focused on Kaleb with rapt curiosity, biting her lower lip. That has to be it. She's just noticing that he's been working out more; she does have a good eye for that sort of thing. There's just something so different about him outside of school, but she can't pinpoint what it is exactly.

"Wait, do you...?" MG starts uncertainly, and she tears her eyes away to look at him. He points over in Kaleb's direction, his eyes darting over and back to her with his lips parted and the most confused look on his face. "Kaleb? Do you...?"

Lizzie raises her eyebrows again. She gives a slight shake of her head as he struggles to get a coherent question out. Was it something she said? Whatever it is is turning him into a flustered mess. 

"Are you okay?" she asks him warily, silently wondering if he's in need of a nearby squirrel. She isn't entirely sure where he would even find a squirrel in the middle of Georgia. Maybe there's some park or something. 

He falters for a moment, staring at her, blinking slowly. Then he snaps out of it and he half-nods, half-shakes his head. 

"Yeah, no, of course," he says, and flashes her a smile that seems sincere, though she's unsure. "I'm all good. So, uh...do you want me to show you around since you're gonna be staying here? The guest room is really nice, I think you'll like it."

"You trying to show me up in my own home?" Lizzie hears Kaleb ask and turns to find him approaching at last, holding two bottles in his hands. He hands one to her, flashing MG a grin. "Don't worry about that, I got the tour covered. Gotta be a good host, right?"

"Especially considering I've basically been your host for the last year," Lizzie says, smirking at him. 

"You mean your daddy has," Kaleb retorts.

Lizzie scoffs, feigning indignation as the corners of her mouth twitch. Maybe he's right, but she's not letting him know that. He doesn't push for it, either, just shaking his head at her as MG gives a slight chuckle. Lizzie can't help but notice his eyes moving between them. 

"Guess you two have got it covered then," he says.

"You can come with us," Lizzie offers, raising a shoulder in a shrug. 

He shakes his head, smiling. "Nah, I should go and find Kym. I said I'd go with her to get something for dinner." He looks at Kaleb, raising his eyebrows nervously, clearly recalling Lizzie's words from just a moment ago. "That okay? It's just — I sort of offered without thinking, and I know you said—"

"It's cool, man," Kaleb tells him, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. "Go find her. But I am telling you right now, I don't wanna spend all of tonight hearing you talk 'bout how great my sister is, alright?"

MG nods quickly once more then flashes the both of them a grin before taking off. Lizzie frowns as she watches him make his way across the roof, apologizing profusely when he accidentally knocks into someone. 

"What have you done to him?" she asks. "He was acting all weird but, like, not in his normal way."

"What kind of way?" Kaleb asks, concern crossing his face.

"I don't know," Lizzie says as MG disappears down into the stairwell and out of sight. "Maybe it was something I said? I only mentioned his crush on your sister."

"You talked about Kym?" Kaleb asks with a touch of exasperation. "No wonder he freaked."

Lizzie's brow furrows in confusion and she turns to him as he rolls his eyes. 

"Just 'cause he's over you doesn't mean he's gonna be comfortable talking about other girls with you. He hasn't even told her he likes her yet," he says. "He probably just got weird because it was you."

Lizzie considers that maybe he's right, but she slowly shakes her head.

"I don't think that was the problem," she says, but doubt creeps through. "He seemed fine with talking about her. He was...happy, even. He just...I don't know. Something was just off."

"Trust me, I'm sure he just didn't know how to handle talking to you about it," Kaleb assures her, clearly brushing it off. 

Lizzie searches his face as he looks away, her frown deepening. Something is definitely off. She may not know Kaleb well enough to be able to read him properly, but she can certainly tell when someone is trying to avoid talking about something. She just can't figure out why. 

"You're probably right," she decides, letting it drop for now. She doesn't let it slip from her mind though as he more than happily embraces her agreement. It can't be that important anyway, she's sure.

"Alright, let's get you settled in then," Kaleb says, and gestures for her to follow him. 

She doesn't protest, walking with him back across the roof in the same direction MG went. He opens up the door leading back down the stairwell and they head down the many flights of stairs until they reach the door that Kym had come out of, now left slightly ajar. 

He leads her into a wide hallway and she blinks, taken aback. The walls are a light shade of a vibrant orange that lights the entire place up even without the circular lights embedded into the ceiling. There are vinyl records lining the walls, or at least their covers, with photographs every few spaces in between. 

"Your family likes music?" she asks as she slows her pace a few steps behind him to take it all in. 

Kaleb glances back at her then to the walls. "Oh, yeah," he says, grinning. "Big music fans. 'Specially the classics. Just wait until you see the upstairs and all the paintings."

Lizzie raises her eyebrows, turning back to him as he continues walking. "Paintings?"

"My parents are sort of art freaks in a lot of areas." Kaleb shrugs. "Suppose I am as well."

"Really?" Lizzie asks, forgetting to hide her surprise. "I never thought of you as someone with refined tastes. I actually sort of thought you were one of those stereotypical jocks."

"That's 'cause you don't know me," Kaleb points out, glancing back at her again. "We fight monsters together. We've never had a proper conversation that isn't about how to kill some new supernatural being or how to avoid getting killed."

He turns back around, missing Lizzie's frown at his words. He's right, of course. She can't recall more than two conversations they've had that hasn't revolved around Malivore. One was when they were cleaning up the graffiti, right before she got a milkshake thrown at her, and the other at the football game, while talking strategy. Not exactly the most personal conversations.

She doesn't say anything as she glances through a wide entrance into what appears to be the sitting room. It seems even bigger and leads off into another room that looks like the kitchen. When she passes another entrance, sure enough, she catches a glimpse of a tall fridge and some marble counters and tiled floors. 

"The guest room's just up here," Kaleb tells her, walking up a little flight of stairs and turning a corner. "MG's been crashing in my room, so it's free for you and your mom."

"Yeah, he mentioned that."

"We would have put him in the guest room, but I didn't want him to be alone, you know?" Kaleb says as they pass a room with a little wooden sign with some saying and symbol that makes her think it's probably a bathroom. "After Triad and everything. Plus, no one would even try and put anyone in Kym's room, so you'd be getting this one anyway."

"Your sister does seem...bold?" Lizzie tries, unsure of the right word that won't offend Kaleb and Kym, because really, she quite likes her. She's confident from what she's seen, and she's pretty, and clearly intelligent. She's someone that Lizzie would definitely like to get to know more. 

Kaleb gives a short laugh as Lizzie finally falls into step beside him again.

"Bold is one word for Kym," he agrees, and she smiles, relieved. "You two would probably get along."

He suddenly stops, turning to her with a finger raised.

"But that doesn't mean you've to go and flirt with her as well. It's already weird enough with MG, I don't need to watch you two fight over her."

"Yeah, right," Lizzie scoffs. "As if I would ever get involved with anyone who's related to you."

"Oh, I'm so hurt," Kaleb says, mockingly placing a hand over his heart. He rolls his eyes, dropping it a second later and continuing down the hallway. "But good. It's best for everyone that our family trees stay as separate as they can. We don't need that extra level of chaos."

Lizzie agrees, though not out loud. Her mind can't help but be drawn back to her last call with Josie and everything she told her. No matter how hard she tries to block out any information that Josie tells her about the merge, and the ascendant, and whatever progress she's making, it always gets lodged right in there for her to dwell over in the late hours of the night. No one else's family needs to get tangled up in the mess her own has created.

Kaleb opens up the door on her right, just before another corner. He walks in, and she follows, immediately scanning over the room. It's instinctive at this point, having checked over every hotel room that she and her mom have booked into over the last few weeks. Not that she's expecting some Malivore monster to make an appearance now, but it's certainly good to be safe.

It's fairly big and a nice shade of pale yellow, with two beds at opposite ends of the room and two large windows in between. Sunlight is streaming in across the dark blue carpet, the curtains drawn all the way open. She can't help but glance at Kaleb's hand for the glint of dark blue on his ring, something she's gotten into the habit of with her mom. 

"It's nice," Lizzie says as she walks further in, taking a seat on the edge of the bed closest to her.

The entire room smells sweet, like a mixture of lemon and vanilla. Witches, she reminds herself. She and Josie always cast spells over their room back home so that it constantly smells like some new fragrance. The last one was cherry.

She can't help but wonder if Josie's going to have gone ahead and moved into a room of her own by the time that she gets back. It's been on her mind since she left, even though Josie hadn't mentioned it once. 

She looks down, distracting herself by taking a drink. It's surprisingly pleasant and actually almost tastes like oranges. 

"My momma insists on keeping it like this," Kaleb says. "Got a lot of family visiting, especially over the break."

"Lucky you," Lizzie says with maybe a twinge of bitterness in her voice.

It doesn't seem to come through thankfully as Kaleb just makes a noise halfway between a scoff and an agreement. All she wants to do is call Josie. No one else is supposed to know about the crystal. She supposes she could just use her phone instead. It's not the same, though.

"Wanna move on?" Kaleb asks, motioning his head back at the door. "It'll be best if you know where everything is. Don't want you getting lost in the middle of the night and accidentally ending up somewhere you shouldn't be."

Lizzie's eyebrows draw together as she stares up at him. 

"Witches need places to practice, that's all I'm saying," Kaleb says with a slight grin that makes her think he's probably playing her again. "You comin' or not?"

She hesitates for just a moment, glancing at the bag at the top of the bed. Josie's probably out with Landon anyway. That's all she ever seems to be doing now. She can just wait until later. Nodding, she pushes herself back to her feet and walks out of the room with Kaleb.


	2. Not getting soft on me, are you, Saltzman?

Her mom returns within an hour and a half, just like promised. She finds Lizzie back up on the roof, laughing with Kaleb, MG, Kym, and one of Kaleb's other cousins, Justin. She brings her off to the side, telling her that everything went well; the healer's the real deal.

As reluctant as she was, Lizzie agrees to go back with her to meet them for herself. Something that she's glad about, but also regretting at the same time now. He sounds promising. She talked to him for a while, and he was listening to her, so there's that, at least.

But he wants to start her on some new tests that, of course, involves magic of the experimental kind. Totally safe, apparently. Combined with the new medication, it's just a lot. She doesn't feel much like socializing anymore when she and her mom finally get back to Kaleb's parents' house. 

Her mom understands and tells her just to get some rest. Lizzie can't help but hear the unspoken "you're going to need it" that she leaves out. She takes her advice all the same and her mom politely excuses her, explaining to Kaleb's moms in a hushed voice after they tell her to go ahead into the guest room. 

She slips into the room, closing the door behind her, and crosses over to flop down on the bed with a heavy sigh. It's not so much that she's tired, just some strange exhaustion is making it hard to think and it's like it's weighing her limbs down. It's not just the medication, she's almost positive.

It's this thing, in the back of her head, that no doctor or healer seems to be able to figure out. It's just there and has been since just before the summer break started. It's confusing the hell out of her — and everyone around her — and honestly, she's starting to think she's just losing her mind after everything that's happened with Malivore. Of course it would be her.

She stretches an arm over the side of the bed, managing to grab the zip of her bag and open it. The crystal is right on top; she always likes to have it at hand just in case Josie needs her or vice versa. She pulls it out and shifts back, curling up and holding the crystal with Josie in mind.

It takes a few seconds and Lizzie almost thinks she isn't going to answer before the air next to her shimmers. In the blink of an eye, Josie's there in the space beside her, sitting cross-legged. Her bright smile fades the second she sees Lizzie's face.

"Is everything okay?" she asks, worry slipping into her voice and making her question if she's not doing as good a job at trying to mask her feelings as she thought. "Is it the Swedish guy or therapy?"

Lizzie huffs out a laugh at that. "Both. I had to say goodbye to..."

She falters, trying to pull up a name, but her mind stays blank.

"We had to say goodbye. Which, obviously, wasn't that successful considering he didn't have a clue what I was saying."

Josie makes a sympathetic noise and Lizzie smiles.

"I'm not sure he even knew who I was, to be honest," she adds. "He just sort of...stared at me, and then he walked away. I probably should have at least gotten a dictionary while we were there so I could have some semblance of a conversation with him."

"That would probably have helped," Josie agrees with a chuckle, shaking her head at her. "So, where are you and mom now then if not in Sweden with the love of your life?"

Lizzie glances away from her, the bubble of familiarity and happiness popping just like that. Josie now knows that she isn't exactly having the time of her life, and she hates lying to her more than anything. 

"Georgia," she tells her, lifting her eyes back up to meet Josie's confusion. "There's a healer here that mom heard of from Aunt Bonnie. I talked to them, and..." she raises a shoulder, "...they seem like they might be able to help. I just..."

She sighs, her chest tight and heavy.

"I have another appointment with them tomorrow. They want to do...magical _tests_, or something," she says, shaking her head as she tries not to let her mind linger on it too long. "Apparently they're complicated and they don't even know if it's going to work."

Josie's face falls, the worry returning. "What kind of tests?"

"I don't know," Lizzie says, mostly because she doesn't want to think about what they might be. "But basically, they're going to be poking around inside of my head with magic. And this new medication they've put me on sucks. It's not as bad as the last one, I suppose, but still."

"You should tell mom that you don't think it's helping," Josie says, then shifts forward a little, reaching a hand out to her arm. There's no real contact, but it still brings some comfort to Lizzie. "And as soon as your appointment is over tomorrow, call me. I'll be right here and you can tell me everything or nothing."

Lizzie smiles, taking in a deep breath as she nods. Something settles slightly inside of her. Even in a different state, or country, she still has Josie, no matter what. It's just easy to forget sometimes, especially now that they know about the merge.

Part of her — deep, deep down in a place inside of her that she doesn't like — thinks that Josie's going to turn her back on her. The last thing she wants is to lose Josie. 

"I will," she promises her, shifting her hand to clasp Josie's. She squeezes gently, still nodding, and Josie smiles back. Taking in another breath, Lizzie shakes any thought of the healer from her mind, saying, "now, tell me how things are going between you and Gizmo."

Josie rolls her eyes, but her smile widens all the way to them. Clearly she's no longer in the denial zone; she ducks her head like she always does when talking about a crush, and her eyes sparkle when she lifts them back up, her face tinting ever so slightly. 

"Things are...good," Josie says, raising a shoulder as if to try and seem casual. The look on her face is betraying her big time. 

"Just good?" Lizzie scoffs. "You do not get to be vague about this. If you're going to be dating _the saviour,_ then you need to give me all of the details." She arches an eyebrow at her, leaning forward inquisitively. "Have you kissed yet?"

Josie presses her lips together in an attempt to suppress her smile from growing even further, looking away from her. Lizzie's eyes widen and a gasp slips past her lips. Josie rolls her eyes again.

"Oh my god, you have! When?" Lizzie prompts, shaking her hand and making Josie laugh. "Tell me everything right now."

"Alright, alright! God, I miss when you were too invested in your own love life to even notice mine."

"Trust me, I would be chasing after the Swedish man of my dreams right now if I could," Lizzie says. "Pretty much all of Aunt Bonnie's relatives are off-limits because of some dumb thing I said to Kaleb, so, unless I want to finally give into MG, I am currently living vicariously through your love life." 

Josie stares at her in confusion, her head tilting. "How do you connect Aunt Bonnie with MG and Kaleb?"

"Well, as it turns out, Kaleb is Aunt Bonnie's cousin," Lizzie tells her, and nods when she blinks in surprise. "Yeah, exactly. So, because it was Aunt Bonnie who suggested the healer here to mom, we're staying with some of her relatives for the weekend, which happens to be Kaleb's family. And I guess MG's been here the entire summer break."

"Wow," Josie says slowly. It pretty much sums up exactly how Lizzie's feeling. "So...you're staying with Kaleb and MG? How's that going so far?"

Lizzie shrugs. "It's only been a few hours since we got here, so time will tell, but it's been okay. MG has officially gotten over me, at long last, and has developed feelings for none other than — get this — Kaleb's sister."

If Josie was surprised before, she's downright stunned now. 

"Kaleb has a sister?" she asks, and Lizzie nods. "And MG has feelings for her?"

"Chances of this ending well?"

"Very slim." Josie shakes her head. "Reading up on Uncle Damon and Stefan's feud because of Katherine is practically mandatory for History. You'd think people would know to stay as far away from that sort of thing as possible."

"To be fair, we were stuck in our very own sibling love triangle rivalry twice," Lizzie reminds her smugly. "I may be bitter that Satan rejected me to my face and that Rafael did the exact same thing on our birthday, but I will admit that I enjoyed the drama. Before the heartbreak, of course."

Josie barely reacts to the use of the nickname for Penelope now. There's still some mild exasperation, though that's to be expected. Lizzie's just glad that she's grinning along with her, taking it lightly. 

"Well, no more," Josie vows, her tone almost stern; a joking warning that history will not repeat. Again. "Landon and I are just figuring things out, and you are not going to swoop in and try and hit on him now, okay?"

Lizzie scoffs at even the idea. "He's all yours. I'd rather date Kaleb."

Josie's eyebrows shoot up, her lips already parting to speak as a slow smile curves them.

"I was kidding," Lizzie hurries to correct with her own exasperation. She falters, and her head tilts a little. "Although, he does seem different. It's weird and confusing, but not in a bad way? He just seems way more interesting outside of school. Not that that changes the fact that I would never date him."

Josie hums as if agreeing with her, but she's staring at her with a familiar look in her eyes. Her smile grows even as Lizzie brushes her off, knowing she's wrong. She knows her own feelings, and there's just no way that she likes Kaleb. 

"Believe what you like," she says, holding a hand up as Josie plays innocent, merely raising her eyebrows. "But I still want every detail on Landon, including how Rafael is coping in wolf form."

She lies down, getting more comfortable as Josie slides down and rolls onto her side to face her. Lizzie grins at her, propping her head up with her arm on the pillows. 

"So, tell me everything."

They lay there for at least half an hour. Josie catches her up on everything that's managed to happen in the space of two days. It's as if she's really there beside her, back at home in their room. They avoid the subject of the merge. And the ascendant, Lizzie notices. She doesn't bring up her doubts; they're baseless and absolutely ridiculous anyway. 

Eventually, Josie says she has to go. Something about making sure their dad isn't still in the bar. Lizzie definitely agrees that's a priority, and so they say goodbye for now. She flickers, and then she's gone, leaving Lizzie with nothing but the quiet of the room.

For a moment, she almost wishes she were a vampire so that she could at least pick up some noise, hear the faint music drifting down from the roof better. But with Josie gone, everything suddenly feels too quiet.

She shifts the faded crystal around in her hand. A faint red glow different from its usual pink when in use surrounds it, spreading from the palm of her hand and the pads of her fingers. There's a slight tingle, a momentary rush of something she's only ever been able to describe as an electric shock but without the uncomfortable aspect.

It's not enough magic to render the crystal useless, but just enough for something. Pushing herself back up, she tucks into the corner, her back against the wall, and drops the crystal back into her open bag. She stares at her hands for another moment, spreading her fingers out as she thinks.

The first spell that comes to mind is a simple illusion spell. She watches the ceiling as the words fall from her lips and it shifts and shimmers until it's a dark blue with bright sparkling stars, caught up in magnificent swirls of pink and purple. It's a pretty common comfort spell, one that her aunt Bonnie used for her and Josie when they were little and couldn't sleep. She's always liked how it made her think of the ceiling in Hogwarts. 

She lets it stay for a few minutes. The gentle movements are strangely comforting. Then she lets it fade, doing a few more basic spells. They're distracting and barely take any energy at all, thankfully. 

A light purple butterfly shimmers to life in the palm of her hand. It flaps its wings experimentally then it takes flight in front of her. Two more forms from the glow of magic trailing behind it. A small smile starts to curve her mouth as she just watches them fly slowly in little circles. They're already starting to bring her some comfort, putting her mind at peace. 

They falter at a knock on the door. She looks over just as it opens slowly and Kaleb walks in, almost seeming cautious. It drops away, though, when his eyes land on her then widen slightly as they dart to the butterflies. They catch him by surprise, she's sure, but the look on his face at the sight of them is almost one of awe. 

Lizzie quickly waves her hand and the butterflies disappear into the air. Kaleb blinks, then he focuses back on her as she raises her eyebrows at him. 

"Hey, I just...thought I'd check in," he says, and gestures back behind him. "Your mom sort of said you weren't feeling great, so. Thought I'd make use of those hosting skills and see how you're doing."

She will admit to being caught off-guard by that. If anyone, she would have expected MG to be checking up on her, but she hadn't thought that anyone would, much less Kaleb. She shrugs, folding an arm around herself.

"It's just the meds," she tells him, giving a roll of her eyes to disguise that she still can't quite stomach people's reactions to that yet. "I'm still adjusting to them, and even with them, I still have bad days. Sort of defeats the purpose of taking them at all, I think, but apparently I'm the only one."

Lizzie chances a glance at him in time for her to spot what could be a glimpse of concern. It feels so uncharacteristic and strange in her head, but she reminds herself that she doesn't know him well enough to be sure that's true. He could be the most concerned person in the world most of the time and she just wouldn't know. 

He steps further into the room, giving the door a slight push from behind him. "Do you...wanna talk?" he asks, and takes a seat at the bottom of the bed. "You know...about any of it?"

He seems so uncertain of the territory that he's trying to step into that she can tell this isn't a typical thing for him. Yet his offer is far more sincere than it usually is from other people when they ask. He hasn't any idea about what she's dealing with, but he's willing to sit with her and listen. How did she miss this side of him the entire year that she spent at school with him?

Despite that, she shakes her head. The thought of talking about it just exhausts her even more right now, though she knows she has to with her mom at some point. 

"You don't have to go, though," she throws in, lifting her eyes back to him. She brushes over his surprise. "We can still talk if you want, just...about anything else."

"Okay." He pulls his legs up onto the bed, shifting so that his back is against the wall. "What was that spell you were doing before? The one with the butterflies? It looked pretty cool."

"It's...a comfort spell. Pretty basic one. They can take any form you want depending on how much magic it requires, but I like butterflies."

She hesitates for a second then unfolds her arm and holds her hand out in front of her. Kaleb eyes it with confusion but she just shifts closer to touch his arm. Realization shows on his face as she siphons from him. The little bit of magic she took from the crystal is already draining out of her from those few spells, and as basic as they may be, they still require at least some sliver of magic to hold. 

She then pulls back, carefully sliding her hand in front of the other like a shield.

"_Papilio Lux_," she murmurs as she pushes her hands out, her thumbs moving to the sides. 

Her hands glow again, with a faint yellow light this time. She pulls them down, cupping them, and a little butterfly flutters to life in the glow. It's a lighter shade of yellow and spotted with black dots. It rests on the tips of her fingers for barely a second before giving a flap of its wings, more sure of itself than the last had been as it flies up. 

Kaleb watches it with that same look on his face from before. He reaches out a hand of his own and the butterfly lands on it with ease. His eyes practically shine with amazement as it continues to flap its wings gently, hopping about his hand. Lizzie smiles, the comfort from it returning and spreading with warmth throughout her.

"Did you never do any spells like this?" she asks, and Kaleb pauses. "You know, before you turned."

The question clearly catches him by surprise. It wasn't exactly hard for her to put the pieces together and figure out he used to be a witch. A good chunk of his family seems to be, and he is her aunt Bonnie's cousin after all, even if the thought of him as anything other than a vampire is strange to her.

"Uh, no," he answers, just watching the butterfly as Lizzie turns her head to look at him. "I never really did much magic at all. I was never too interested in it, I guess."

Something about the way he says it makes her think it's not quite the truth. She had no problem growing into her magic simply because of how easy it was to siphon without even meaning to. But she's heard how it can take a while for a lot of witches to develop it properly. It took her aunt Bonnie until she was sixteen.

Lizzie's stomach sinks at the thought that Kaleb never actually got the chance to use his own before he was turned. Of course when he's trying to be nice to her she goes and ruins it with some thoughtless, insensitive remark. 

Kaleb glances at her when she goes quiet, and something must show on her face. He chuckles, shaking his head.

"Don't worry, I'm not still hung up on the whole magic thing," he says. "It's cool, but I do enjoy being a vampire. You can have all the spells you want, but vampires are still faster and immortal."

"You do realize witches were the ones who created vampires, right?" Lizzie asks, narrowing her eyes as he finally looks at her. The corners of her mouth tug up and she quickly turns it into a smirk. "We can do literally anything with magic. Including those witchy migraines that you're all so fond of, and, remind me again, who made your daylight ring?"

Kaleb rolls his eyes, but his tongue is poking into his cheek as he grins, shaking his head at her again. 

"Oh, that's right. A witch."

"Alright, you can have that one," he says, and her smirk widens, amused. "But when it comes down to it, vampires still get a better deal than witches do and we both know it."

Lizzie stares at him for a moment with her eyes still narrowed. He doesn't falter under her stare, no matter the intensity that she fakes for a reaction. He merely raises his eyebrows at her as if it's the equivalent of throwing a gauntlet at her feet. People rarely challenge her, aside from Josie more recently. This is new and certainly interesting.

"Okay, I'll admit vampires have some advantages that witches don't," she concedes, purely out of curiosity. 

Kaleb grins, now the one who looks smug. Surprisingly, it doesn't irritate her like she had thought it had in the past. It half-makes her want to wipe the grin off of his face, but she's not so sure it's in the same way that it is with all of the Mystic Falls High assholes. The smug look on him is sort of...endearing.

"Alright then, we've reached a truce," Kaleb says, and she pulls herself together when his eyes dart to her for a moment before moving back to the little butterfly that hasn't left his hand once. It's still flapping away, fluttering along the palm of his hand, making him twist it around so that it can move along his knuckles instead.

With another movement of her hands, Lizzie conjures up three more butterflies, letting them fly from her hand. They're the same light shade of yellow, trailed by the glow that lights up the room despite it not being at all dark. They fly in slow circles, and the one on Kaleb's hand happily joins them. 

He stares after them, both of them watching them swoop around the room. They laugh as one of them flies right into the other, and they bump around in stunned confusion, their little wings flapping as they try to move around each other and nearly do it again.

There's another knock at the door, this time followed by a voice. "Is everything alright?" MG asks without opening the door farther than the slight gap left from Kaleb not bothering to fully close it. 

Kaleb raises his eyebrows and shoots Lizzie a look that she wishes she didn't understand. She rolls her eyes in response, hoping that it conveys how utterly ridiculous she thinks he is for still thinking that MG's being weird around her. He was being weird earlier, yes, but she's almost positive that it has nothing to do with her specifically. Or at least his old feelings for her.

"Yeah, we're all good, dude," Kaleb calls to him. "Come on in."

The door opens a little further and MG peeks his head in. For a split second, his expression is wary, uncertain, as if preparing himself for something. Then his eyes land on them and his entire body seems to relax. Lizzie's eyebrows crease, but MG's already taking another step into the room. 

He stops short at the sight of the butterflies, their movement catching his attention. His eyes widen, and a similar look of amazement to the one Kaleb had quickly appears. For two people who have gone to a school with witches for at least a year, she can't help but think that they're still far too impressed by magic. 

"Whoa," he says, proving her point. "That's...really cool. But, uh, just a question—" he turns to them, his eyebrows furrowing, "—why exactly are there butterflies in here?"

"It's just a spell," Lizzie explains, and closes her hand, opening it back up and releasing another butterfly as evidence. She smiles as it flutters off to join the rest, the bright yellow trail following it across the room. "I can even make them change colour."

Backing her claim up, she swipes her thumb over the pads of her fingers. The shades of yellows quickly fade and darken into a deep blue, like the colour of the illusion she had conjured of the night sky. Its glowing trail shimmers, the illusion making it seem as if it's purple and then pink at the same time.

"Okay, that is awesome," MG says as the newest one breaks away from the group. 

It flies over to him, filling the air with swirls of colourful magic as it circles around his head. He grins, huffing out a breathless laugh that's filled with awe. The butterfly lands on his shoulder, making him crane his neck to try and see it. 

Lizzie and Kaleb laugh as it gives a little flap of its wings, and MG joins in. He reaches up to it and it moves onto the back of his hand. The rest of the butterflies move closer as he does the same, perching on the end of the bed by Kaleb. 

Something about it all is just comforting in a way that makes her think it's not just the spell. The butterflies are easing her mind, but they're not the cause of the warmth settling in her chest. It only grows as they fall into conversation so easily, laughing and joking around in seconds. 

They just sit for a little while. She's grateful that they stay, talking to her while the butterflies continue to float around them. The strange feeling of the meds still lingers somewhere, but it's a little easier to ignore. Especially when MG's making some joke about a werewolf that has the three of them in fits of laughter. It's nice just to be around people her own age who actually know what she's saying, and she finds that they're surprisingly easy to be around. 

"Kaleb! Where the hell are you?" Kym's voice cuts through their laughter, calling out from somewhere on the other side of the house. "You're supposed to be helping me with the boxes, remember?"

"Well, that's my cue," Kaleb says, and starts to get up.

"And mine," MG quickly says, already on his feet, clearly eager to go. He points a thumb over his shoulder. "Promised I'd help as well." He looks over at Lizzie. "Are you...cool with me leaving? I can stay if you wanna talk..."

Lizzie can hear the "but" in that sentence. He would stay if she asked him to, that much is very obvious, and she appreciates that he cares that much about her even now. But she can also see how he's trying not to roll back and forth on the balls of his feet, and how his eyes lit up at the sound of Kym's voice.

"Go," she tells him with a smile as Kaleb stands beside him. "You made a promise. I'll be here for another two days, but your chance at charming Kym is a very small window."

Kaleb closes his eyes, shaking his head discreetly as MG's eyes widen. Lizzie watches him carefully, though, but all that happens is his face splits into a bright, grateful grin. There's not a trace of the strange look from earlier. 

"Guess I should make my—" MG starts, pulling himself up to his full height, only to falter as his eyes warily dart to Kaleb who's now staring at him with an arched eyebrow, "—exit. I should make my exit, to go and help out Kym. Yeah. Okay."

Lizzie's the one shaking her head now with pity. MG quickly leaves the room and she sighs, but the corners of her lips twitch up. She might have to do something to help him out a bit. Kym doesn't seem likely to listen to her, but it could be worth a shot. 

"Thank you for that," Kaleb says, his voice dripping with sarcasm, turning back to her. Even so, he seems to be just as amused.

"You like MG, and he is incredibly sweet," Lizzie points out. "I really don't see a problem with him dating your sister."

"Have you ever approved of anyone Josie's liked?" Kaleb asks.

Lizzie falters at that. She tries to think back, but her mind immediately comes up blank. It's not that she doesn't approve, per se. It's more that she's always thought there could be someone better for her, and that the particular type of person that Josie tends to be attracted to just so happens to be better suited for herself.

Nine times out of then, she's been right and they've turned out to be completely wrong for Josie. She's still deciding on Landon, but she's willing to sit back and see how this one plays out on its own for once. 

Kaleb waves a hand at her pointedly when she stays silent, knowing she's just gone and made his point for him. He doesn't have a problem with MG, it's just a sibling instinct. Maybe they both need to take a step back.

"Anyway," Kaleb sighs, motioning to the door, "I should go and help them out."

Lizzie smiles and nods as the butterflies finally land, settling into the fabric of her skirt that she's playing with the hem of. He goes to leave then pauses in the doorway.

"But, uh," he adds, turning halfway back to her as she looks up at him curiously, "my room's right around the corner, at the very end. Just in case you need anything. You could ask Kym, but I wouldn't recommend it."

Lizzie blinks in surprise. He's staring at her and there's that feeling that something is different again. She still can't for the life of her pinpoint what it is no matter how long she looks at him. 

"Yeah," she says without really registering it, then quickly snaps herself out of it. "Yeah, no. I will definitely not be asking Kym for any more help considering she left me with you."

Kaleb gives a slight smile, a soft chuckle of agreement. "Alright then."

He turns again and actually leaves this time, closing the door behind him. Lizzie doesn't move for a moment, dropping her gaze to the butterflies still resting in her lap. Their wings are flapping gently, brushing against her arm. She bites her bottom lip as she tells herself that it is in no way a metaphor. They're just butterflies. 

She quickly waves her hand and they disappear. Just in time, too. The door opens again, and for a second, she thinks that Kaleb's come back. Maybe he forgot something he wanted to say, or maybe Kym doesn't need his help after all. But her mom walks in, closing the door behind her with a warm smile aimed at her. 

"Hey, sweetie."

She walks over to the bed and Lizzie tucks her legs up to make room beside her again. Her mom settles into the empty space, mirroring her and crossing her own legs. 

"You feeling any better?" she asks, and Lizzie raises a shoulder in an uncertain shrug. 

Her mom sighs quietly, but when Lizzie looks at her, she's got a small smile as she looks down at her hands in her lap. It's a familiar sight, and Lizzie always knows that guilt accompanies it. Her mom seems to have this constant habit of feeling like she's pushing her too hard. They both know that she isn't, but Lizzie isn't sure that it does anything to ease her mom's worries about her.

"It's just the medication," she tells her, shaking her head. "It's making me feel weird, that's all."

"Okay," her mom says, nodding as she looks back over at her. "Then we can go back to the doctor if you want. Or a new one. If you don't think that the medication is working, then we'll find something else. And if you don't want to go to this healer tomorrow, then just tell me and we'll forget about it right now."

Lizzie can't help but wonder how she knew she was having doubts about it. Then again, her mom has always been able to read her, even when Lizzie wishes she couldn't. It's what's made the last few weeks not so bad in terms of all of the therapy and doctors and healers, because her mom has been able to tell when something's off with her. It's also just one of the reasons that she wishes she would come home already. 

"I know that everything they were saying sounded..." her mom takes in a deep breath, shaking her head, "...somewhat scary. So, if you don't want to do it, then we'll find another option. We can talk to them again, see if there's another alternative."

Despite the fact that she thinks "somewhat scary" is a bit of an understatement about everything the healer was describing, she finds herself shaking her head. 

"No, I...I think I want to do it." The words come as a bit of a shock to herself as well as her mom, whose eyes widen a bit, but she's sure she means them. "It's absolutely terrifying that I have no idea if this is going to work or not, but this is the first time that someone's said they might be able to figure out what the hell is going on in my head aside from the obvious. I have to do this."

"But you don't," her mom reminds her, giving her another chance to change her mind. 

"But I want to," Lizzie says, nodding, certain that she really does. It doesn't stop the turning in her stomach or how nauseous she feels at the thought of tomorrow, but she knows that she's going to do it. 

Her mom nods along with her, a bit slower, and another small smile curves her mouth. 

"Okay," she says again, reaching out a hand and resting it on top of one of Lizzie's. She squeezes it gently. "We'll go back to the healer tomorrow."

Lizzie smiles back and nods once more. Her mom lets go of her hand and gives another sigh, far more exaggerated this time.

"Well, I suppose we should be getting some rest then," she says. "I'm just going to call Josie. Has she...said anything about how your dad's getting on, by the way? I've only been talking to Dorian, so..."

Lizzie debates over whether to tell her the truth or not. It's not as if her mom's actually going home any time soon to see for herself. But if she were to tell her that her dad's slipping, there's a fifty-fifty chance of her coming back to try and fix things or her keeping herself as far away as possible. 

"He's pretty much how he usually is," she answers, and it's not a lie. "Josie said she's got it handled. I guess I'll see when I go home, but I wouldn't worry too much. I'm sure that everything's...fine."

Concern flashes across her mom's face, and it's obvious that the truth has swayed the odds of her coming back just for at least a weekend to around seventy-forty. 

"I might call your dad as well," she says, reaching into her pocket for her phone. "Just to...check up. But you're probably right. I'm sure that everything's fine."

Lizzie nods her agreement even if it's clear between the two of them that neither of them quite believe that. She knows that her dad has applied for the position as principal of Mystic Falls High, so she's hoping that that, at the very least, will do him some good. 

Her mom gets off of the bed and moves back out into the hallway, half-closing the door behind her. Lizzie's pretty sure that means that she isn't expecting the conversation to go too well; she always excuses herself whenever she has a call with her dad, and Lizzie doesn't need vampire hearing to pick up on the hostility being pushed out through clenched teeth. 

It takes a good few minutes for her mom to come back. Over thirty. Lizzie just plays with her phone, rolling her eyes but smiling at a photo that Josie sent her of the homemade movie theatre that she and Landon made to keep Rafael entertained in his wolf form over the break. Their latest movie was apparently some horror judging by the picture. 

Her mom eventually comes back in. There doesn't seem to be too much tension in her shoulders and she doesn't seem as worn out as she usually does after a conversation with her dad. That has to be a good sign. Josie probably helped with that.

She gives her a brief filling in on how everything's going: good, by the sounds of it, and Lizzie can't help but wonder if her dad lied just to stop her mom from worrying. Or for some other reason. Either way, her mom seems mostly assured, and she settles into the bed across the room. 

Lizzie stares at the door as she considers doing the same. She should get some sleep.

Instead of lying down, she climbs off of her bed and quietly crosses over to the door, being careful not to make too much noise as she leaves the room. 

The hallway is still lit up and she catches the sound of voices drifting from the direction of the sitting room. She pauses, trying to figure out if any of them are familiar. They're not, and she takes a few hesitant steps to her right instead. There's a door facing directly down the hallway.

She glances around the corner and finds another door. It's slightly ajar, barely a few inches, but enough for her to see a strip of light. There's no light underneath the first door. She vaguely recalls walking past Kaleb's room back at the school a few times and seeing the light on despite it being late in the night.

Taking the chance, she turns the corner and walks slowly towards the second door. She peeks in through the little gap and brings her hand up to knock quietly. 

"Yeah?" she hears Kaleb ask quietly from inside, and relief washes over her.

"It's just me," she says as she opens the door a little wider, taking a small step inside to scan the room.

It's pretty big, she notices. In the bed in the corner by the window, MG's facing her but his eyes are closed and he seems completely out. 

She quickly focuses her attention on the other bed. Kaleb's half-propped up on it, clearly having been about to try and follow MG's lead. 

His eyebrows raise, not bothering to hide his surprise. Even so, he smiles as he pushes himself up a little, nodding over at her. She takes another tentative step forward at the offer but stays beside the door.

"What's up?" he asks.

"Nothing," she says a little too quickly, and his eyebrows raise another inch.

His smile widens as she shakes her head, rolling her eyes at herself.

"I just...thank you."

Kaleb huffs out a confused chuckle, his head tilting. For the third time, she can't help but notice how different he seems outside of school, or just how much easier it is for her to really pay attention. He just seems so relaxed, at ease. Certainly not someone she would have accused of turning Dana. Maybe it's because they're both tired.

"For sitting with me," she explains, deciding not to let it get to her. "I was overthinking everything until you checked on me. Honestly, talking to you actually helped. It was really...sweet of you."

A puzzled look sits on Kaleb's face. It's subtle, though, and he blinks for just a moment before regaining himself and giving a slight shake of his head.

"Gotta be a good host," he says, clearly trying to brush it off. 

"It was more than that," she says firmly, sure of herself. "You were...there." Her eyes dart over to the other bed. "You and MG. But you...I just appreciate it, okay?"

Kaleb stares at her as if he's trying to figure something out. She's starting to question why the hell she thought this was a good idea; they're not friends. But they had fun today, and she means everything she's saying. Doesn't that at least qualify them as something? 

After a moments pause between them, a small smile settles on Kaleb's face. 

"Not getting soft on me, are you, Saltzman?" he asks jokingly, but there's something in his voice. A note of something that suggests he wouldn't mind too much if she were. 

For once, Lizzie doesn't have a sarcastic or snarky comeback. She just smiles, raising a shoulder in a shrug.

"Maybe," she says, silently enjoying Kaleb's surprise and how his own smile grows. "Is that a problem? Was that conversation just a one-off or something?"

As she says it, the worry that that's exactly what it was creeps in. And it startles her that she's worried. It might cause her some momentary embarrassment, but then things would just go back to normal, so really, there would be no problem. Nothing would really change. Yet that feels like the problem, somehow. 

Kaleb is slow to respond, but he shakes his head after a beat, holding her gaze. "Not if you don't want it to be."

She doesn't. Maybe it's the fact that she's realizing just how little she really knows about him aside from all of the obvious things she's had to know while they were fighting Malivore's monsters together. Or maybe it's just because talking to him really did make her feel better in a way she wasn't expecting, even if there wasn't much actual talking involved. 

"I don't," she tells him confidently. 

Kaleb's mouth twitches, trying to curve up further. "Alright then." 

"Okay."

Silence quickly falls between them, but Lizzie doesn't look away from him. In all fairness, neither does he. There's something else, hanging there in the air between them, unspoken and waiting desperately to be acknowledged. It's right on the tip of her tongue, making her think the butterflies relocated to her stomach when she made them disappear. 

But the words aren't there, and she can't figure out what they're supposed to be. 

Kaleb parts his lips as if to speak, and she straightens up a little, a hand still on the door. Her heart jumps a beat, intentionally sabotaging her.

Kaleb presses his lips back together in a small smile that seems almost forced now as he looks away, finally breaking their gaze. His eyes dart to MG, but he's still deep in sleep. 

Lizzie sinks in disappointment. The moment is gone, and whatever it was that they both wanted to say dissolves, remaining unspoken. She tells herself it can't have been that important. 

"I'm gonna go to bed," she tells him, the statement feeling far too abrupt as he lifts his eyes back to her. She offers a sincere smile, as small as it is. "Goodnight."

"Yeah, goodnight," Kaleb says, nodding, though he doesn't seem too convinced.

His features soften somewhat, though, including his smile. Lizzie can't help but linger for a moment, then quickly snaps herself back, earning her a soft chuckle from Kaleb as she makes a motion to leave but doesn't quite go. She laughs quietly along with him, shaking her head at herself, then nods and forces herself to move at last. 

Her skin is on fire when she turns around and pulls Kaleb's door back to how it had been before. She pauses for a moment in the hallway, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. It was something, that's for sure. 

She closes her eyes, composing herself with a sigh. No matter how much she tells herself that it was nothing, she can't seem to get rid of her smile as she walks back down the hallway and around the corner, into the guest room to get some sleep.

When she finally does, her dream makes absolutely no sense. It switches between glimpses of blue skin and guns echoing and fuelled by screaming and lights blowing out. The only part that actually makes sense is when it's just her and Kaleb, even if they're in strange clothing and seem to be in a completely different universe entirely. Except that's the part that makes the least sense to her.


	3. It's more of a feeling

Disorientation has become a big part of the last few weeks; waking up in different hotel rooms and resorts every other day still throws Lizzie off every time she opens her eyes no matter how many years she's been doing it. Waking up to remember that she's in Georgia and staying with Kaleb and MG is just as confusing, if not more. 

Before she has much time to wrap her head around it, there's a knock at the door as if someone was able to sense that she's awake. She blinks at the ceiling but pushes herself up in the bed. A reminder of why she's in Georgia hits her right her in the stomach, sinking everything inside of her. She's gotten used to that as well.

"Lizzie?" MG asks through the door. 

"Yeah, I'm awake," she says, though she isn't too convinced of herself. 

The door opens and MG steps inside. He flashes her a smile that feels far too bright for the morning, but she can't say she's surprised. She would always see him around in the mornings at home, that usual bounce in his step. She would say it's because he's a vampire since her mom tends to be the same way on most days, but she's seen enough grumpy vampires in the morning to know it's not a species-specific thing. 

"We're having breakfast," MG says. "Just thought I'd let you know, in case you want anything. There are pancakes."

Just the thought of food makes her stomach turn. She doesn't know if it's another delightful side-effect of the medication or if it's knowing that she has to leave for the healer soon. Either way, she's about to turn down the offer. 

"Your mom sort of asked me to see if you were awake," MG tells her now with an apologetic look that she understands perfectly. "Well, I offered when she said she was going to."

She sighs but smiles at him. "I'll be there in a minute." 

"Yeah, of course," MG says and makes a gesture to the door. "I'll see if I can save you a plate. Strawberries and whipped cream, right?"

Lizzie's smile hadn't been entirely sincere before but it is now as she nods. "Yeah. And — thank you, MG," she quickly says when he goes to leave. "I meant to say that yesterday, but...you were asleep."

Part of her wonders if he's going to contradict and sheepishly admit that he was awake. Kaleb had looked over at him as if he was worried he would hear them despite Lizzie being sure he was sound asleep. 

"Oh yeah, I just crashed after we finished helping Kym," MG says, and she believes him. He shifts uncertainly on his feet, and a similar expression to what she had been imagining crosses his face as he lifts a hand to the back of his neck. "But, uh...why did you want to thank me?"

"Just," she shakes her head, holding his gaze, "for being a really great friend."

She almost expects his face to fall for a brief moment, her head still not quite wrapped around the thought of him moving on from his feelings for her. The complete opposite happens; instead of hurt or disappointment, his face lights up, his eyes sparking wide with subtle joy mixed with surprise. 

"Oh," he says, and quickly drops his hand back to his side as his mouth starts to curve back up. "Well...I'm just glad that I could be there then, I guess. I like being your friend."

Happiness flutters inside of her. "And I like having you as a friend."

MG huffs out a laugh, and she grins, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. Something just feels so right about this. For once, she can see the side of him that Josie was always going on about. She means what she said. Being friends with him feels nice. 

"Well, uh..." He points back over his shoulder, shaking his head as his voice still shakes slightly, his smile showing no sign of leaving any time soon. "I should...you know. And you—"

"Yeah, definitely," Lizzie agrees, her eyes crinkling at the corners as her smile grows. 

MG nods quickly and he leaves the room, closing the door to let her get ready. She takes in a deep breath and just sits there for a moment, staring at the door. Her smile lingers for a beat, then she remembers that she actually has to move, and why she has to, and what's going to happen after she does. 

She lets her breath back out in a sigh. Then she forces herself to climb out from underneath the light blue covers and crouches by her suitcase, searching through it. Once she's found a suitable enough white top with rainbow stripes down the sleeves and a pair of jeans, she gets changed then steps out of the room.

As she makes her way down the hallway, she takes her time to admire the paintings lining the walls. She didn't get much of a chance yesterday, too preoccupied to really pay them much mind. And now she has a reason to want to be as slow as possible. 

They're all pretty beautiful, she realizes as she takes a closer look, and far from the ones that are hanging on the walls back home. At least her aunt Bonnie's family has better taste than her uncle Damon's, that's for sure. 

She spends at least three minutes admiring every little detail of the last painting — a forest with sunlight shining through the branches and illuminating a clearing filled with the most vibrant colours that she has to question if there's some magic involved. Knowing there's only so long she can stall, though, she drags herself forward and around the corner, through the first entrance. 

MG's sitting at a breakfast bar, Kaleb on his left with Kym across from them. Her mom is sitting with Kaleb's parents around a table barely two feet away. 

"Hey, sweetie," her mom says, smiling at her. 

Lizzie manages to return it, hovering by the island.

"Do you want something to eat?" one of Kaleb's moms — Celia, she thinks she remembers — asks, and waves a hand at the table with a light laugh. "Lauren always makes too much."

"Nothing is ever too much when you have guests," Kaleb's other mom — Lauren, she presumes — counters as she cuts off a piece of a pancake that's hidden beneath about three more along with a whole load of toppings that Lizzie isn't even sure she herself can name.

"We have some time before we leave," her mom says to her as if assuring her instead of convincing. 

Lizzie hesitates. Just thinking about eating anything is making her queasy, and her stomach feels like a boat in a storm. But at the same time, the pancakes do look pretty appealing. 

"Here."

She looks over at MG as he pushes a plate with a couple of pancakes towards her. Strawberries and whipped cream.

A small smile tugs at her lips and she can't bring herself to refuse. Her mom isn't even telling her she can't have cream like she usually does, apparently deciding that her lactose intolerance is a small matter in this case. 

She steps to the breakfast bar and perches herself on a lime green stool. She gratefully accepts the plate, pulling it towards her, then hesitates again when she actually looks at it.

Maybe she should have taken her meds before joining them. She was sure they were the cause of the nausea, which is why she left them back in her bag. Now she isn't, and she's realizing that maybe it's a slight inconvenience.

She picks up a knife and fork and carefully cuts off a piece, everyone already going back to what they had been doing before. Lizzie glances to her right at Kym as she tells MG about her volunteering project.

She eats slowly as she listens. Building homes in Nepal doesn't sound so bad. She's never exactly had to do much construction considering she has magic on her side, but she isn't opposed to the idea. And Kym sounds like she actually had a good time. 

"Can you do it anywhere?" she asks curiously.

Kym turns her head to look at her, a mug held between her hands. She arches an eyebrow at her.

"Like..." Lizzie shrugs, "...France? Or Germany?"

It's a genuine question, and Kym seems to be able to sense that as surprise flickers across her face before she smiles.

"There are volunteering projects pretty much everywhere," she says, nodding. "But there are some countries with a larger opportunity. Nepal, Jamaica, the Philippines."

Lizzie's interest sparks. "Really? Are there any requirements?"

"Hold up," Kaleb says with a disbelieving grin, a hand out in front of him as he stares at her. "You're interested in volunteering? To build houses?"

Lizzie would usually be offended by the question, but Kaleb's tone is genuinely confused. Maybe a little intrigued.

"What? Did you expect me to not want to get my hands dirty?" she scoffs. "Do you not remember a thing from last semester?"

Kaleb shakes his head, leaning back in his seat with a strange smile. "No, I do."

Kym snorts, snickering under her breath. Even MG ducks his head to hide the fact that he's grinning as the two of them share a look.

Lizzie's brow furrows but Kym quiets when Kaleb gives a subtle clearing of his throat and throws her a sharp look.

Kym rolls her eyes but takes a bite of her own breakfast, that smirk settled back on her face while MG hastily acts as if he hadn't heard a thing.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" Lizzie asks, her eyes narrowing, flicking between the three of them.

"Nothing, apparently," Kym says, but her tone says the opposite and MG won't look her in the eyes now. "Kaleb?"

He stares at her, his lips pressed together. Lizzie almost thinks a muscle in his jaw twitches ever so slightly, and her confusion grows as he gives a clearly forced smile.

"Thanks, _sis_. Real nice," Kaleb says, his voice tight and dripping with sarcasm. "Remind me next summer to stay at the school instead, will you?"

"Gladly."

"Can someone at least tell me what is going on right now?" Lizzie cuts back in, raising her eyebrows at them. "Something just happened, and clearly it's not nothing."

Kaleb rolls his eyes, sighing, and her first thought is just how similar he and Kym are with their expressions, and her second is how nice his lashes are. When he looks at her, her focus is only pulled to his eyes instead, and the thought doesn't change all that much if she's honest. He starts to shake his head, his lips parting.

"Oh god." Lizzie looks over at her mom as she looks up at her from her phone. "Dr Swann just texted. He needs to move the appointment time up because of some emergency client."

"Move it up by how much?" Lizzie asks, her stomach already dropping along with the four bites of pancake she's had. 

The face her mom makes gives her her answer. "Sort of now. He said as soon as possible..."

Lizzie sucks in a breath, trying to magically will her heartbeat to calm back down as it races now. It's just one appointment. With a whole load of experimental tests that might work or might make whatever damage has been done without her knowledge even worse. 

"But, I can tell him just to reschedule if you want," her mom quickly says. "I'm sure he'll have other slots. It might mean having to take you out of school for a few hours, but if you don't—"

"It's okay," Lizzie cuts her off despite every fibre of her being wanting to take her up on that offer. It's not like she would be missing much with_ Professor Vardemus_ as the new headmaster. "I'll go."

Anything to end this conversation; she hates talking about any of it with her mom or even Josie as it is, never mind in front of three complete strangers, Kaleb, and MG. Telling them why she's even in Georgia in the first place felt bad enough. 

"You're sure?" her mom asks one last time, and Lizzie nods. 

She gets off of the stool as her mom apologizes to Kaleb's moms, to which they wave it off, telling her not to be silly.

Lizzie goes to reach into her pocket, already stuck in the habit of taking her medication in the morning before she goes anywhere. She stops when all she feels is the fabric of her jeans without a familiar rattle. Because she left them in her bag. Of course she did.

"I'll just be a minute," she says, quickly excusing herself.

She tries to avoid looking at anyone as she walks back towards the hallway, but her eyes move without her really registering it and she catches Kaleb glance at her. If she didn't know better, she would say he almost looks concerned, but it's fleeting, and then he's out of sight as she rounds the corner and heads back into the guest room. 

She bends down and rifles through the suitcase that she left open, looking for that little container. It accidentally got pushed down when she was searching for her clothes, now hidden away in the sleeve of one of her sweaters. She retrieves it, pushing back to her feet, and goes to pry it open with relief. 

The feeling quickly sinks right back down when she realizes that she has nothing to take it with. It's not exactly a requirement, but trying to swallow them dry always leaves her with a weird feeling in her throat and she hates the texture of it altogether. She groans, pressing her hands into her face. 

"Of course this is happening today," she mutters, trying to figure out if she can just convince her mom to stop into a store on the way to Dr Swann's clinic to get some water instead. "Give me a break, universe."

She quickly tugs her hands up through her hair before letting them drop back to her side with a deep breath. It's okay. It's just one inconvenience, and she handles inconveniences all the time. She spins around, reminding herself that it's a year of yes. Positivity only. 

She yelps and nearly jumps out of her skin when she sees Kaleb standing in the doorway. He chuckles, his eyebrows raising as she presses her hand against her chest. Her heartbeat is going so fast that it almost feels like it's stopped entirely. 

"And here I thought you'd be used to people appearing out of nowhere," Kaleb says, taking a step into the room. 

Lizzie glares at him, but he does make a fairly good point that she isn't willing to admit. "Yeah, well, I haven't had to deal with it the last few weeks. I always expect it back home."

"Sorry," Kaleb says, grinning. "I just thought you might want this before you head out, to take those with."

She notices the glass of water in his hand now that she isn't in fight-or-flight mode. Her eyebrows furrow and she looks back up at him in confusion. Is mind-reading suddenly an ability that vampires have that she didn't know about? 

"MG," Kaleb reminds her, and understanding kicks in. He shrugs as she hesitantly accepts the glass from him. "And before you stopped taking the other ones, I saw you a few times in the kitchen when I was coming back in at night. Never bothered you 'cause...well, for obvious reasons."

Lizzie's sure that was a smart move on his part. Even if the thought of doing so now makes her doubt herself, there's a good chance that had she caught him sneaking back in from feeding on someone outside of the grounds, she would have told her dad.

Part of her sort of wishes that hadn't been the case; maybe she's taking the positivity thing to a new level of hopefulness as well, but maybe they could have actually been friends sooner had he been able to trust her a bit more. 

"You could have said hi," she still says anyway, giving a half-roll of her eyes. "It's not like I would have assumed that you were out feeding on the blood of innocent locals. Actually, I take that back, those_ hooligans _are far from innocent. But the point still stands."

Kaleb laughs again. "You wouldn't have wanted me to say hi. We never talked, remember?"

"Well, maybe a basic hi could have changed that," Lizzie tries to argue. "You never know. We might have ended up talking all night and becoming — you know, really good friends. But without that icebreaker, we'll never know."

"Hey, if it makes you feel better, you're still here for another day. Who knows," Kaleb grins, giving another shrug, holding his hands out with a strange glint in her eyes that gives her a sense of mischief, sparking her own to life, "we could end up talking all night and become _really good friends_."

"Why did you emphasize that?" Lizzie asks with suspicion. "I was being serious."

Kaleb's eyes now sparkle with amusement and something that she just can't put her finger on.

"So am I. But, uh," he nods his head at the glass she's still holding onto, glancing back at the doorway, "might wanna take that now. Your mom's ready and coming this way."

It's so obviously a way to divert the conversation. Usually, Lizzie wouldn't let him and would insist that they resolve whatever subject they're on instead, but she can hear footsteps approaching now, and she isn't even fully ready to leave. She quickly takes one of the tablets from their little container, swallowing it with a mouthful of water.

She takes another quick drink then hands the glass back to Kaleb, throwing the container back onto her bed, and hurriedly pulls her boots on. Her mom appears in the doorway.

"You ready?" 

Lizzie nods and goes to follow her back out of the room. She smiles at Kaleb on the passing, and he nods back, a twitch at the corner of his mouth. Then she's back out in the hallway and out of the house, heading for the healer's clinic. 

* * *

It takes five hours to do the tests. Lizzie can't help but think that that sort of defeats the purpose of moving their appointment up, but Dr Swann does duck out a few times, so she isn't sure what's going on. By the time that it's finally over, she's too exhausted to care. 

Exhausted doesn't even feel like the right word. Every step up the stairs feels like she's stuck at the bottom of the ocean, trying to walk through two-hundred feet of water. Her head is pounding and far too light but too heavy to keep up at the same time. She can't even think properly; when she tries, she's sure she's going to black out, and her head is immediately filled with a ringing and flashes of something bright blue that she just can't seem to hold onto for more than a second. 

"We don't know what's wrong." 

Dr Swann's words keeping echoing in her head the entire walk back, and up the many flights of stairs, and when they're greeted by Kaleb's moms. She smiles at them as best she can, but everything inside of her is aching. She barely hears a word that her mom says to them before she is, once again, told to go and get some rest. She doesn't try and argue. 

This time, as soon as she's in the room, she crawls onto the bed without even bothering to get changed, only slipping off her boots. All of it just hits her at once in a wave and there's nothing that she can do to stop her eyes from blurring, the tears falling before she can even register that she's crying. 

The tests started out alright. They were a little daunting, sure, but she could handle them. It was the results. 

"We don't know what's wrong," Dr Swann had admitted. "We've heard of a similar case to yours; a person with all of the same symptoms, having all of the same problems. They couldn't figure out what was going on with themselves either."

"Well, what was wrong with them?" Lizzie prompted, sitting straight as a statue in the chair. 

Dr Swann sighed, a sad, almost sympathetic look on his face.

"I don't know. No one does. They — they had managed to get as far as figuring out that it was something supernatural. They had come into contact with some...creature. They couldn't remember the name or even meeting it, and it was assumed that they had done something to their mind."

Lizzie and her mom had shared a knowing look. She's been in contact with more than one strange creature recently, but she remembers meeting every single one of them. None of them did anything to her. Except...the gargoyle. 

"How do we fix it then?" she asked, sure that she was right, and if she was, that meant there was something somewhere in some book. When Dr Swann had looked at her, hesitating, she had pressed further. "If someone else has had this then they must have found a way to fix it. Right?"

But Dr Swann had shaken his head slowly, glancing between her and her mom with such a despairing look that she knew what was coming before he even started to form the first word. Everything inside of her just sank.

"We don't know how to reverse it," he said. "We don't...even actually know if there is a way. The damage that has been done to your mind is supernatural, and not the easily undone kind like that of a vampire's compulsion or even a siren's possession. We have no idea what we're dealing with, and anything that we do could be a risk to your mental health, as well as your physical."

"So you're saying that there is something that you think might work?" she asked, only latching onto the middle, ignoring every other negative part. Positivity. That's what her therapist said. 

Dr Swann hesitated, but under her and her mom's stares, he reluctantly gave in. "We have an idea, but — it might not even work. We've only used it a few times, and on much lesser cases than your own."

"Let's do it," she had said without missing a beat. 

It turned out to be some spell. It's used to pull memories forward, like the one used on people who are under compulsion, but far more uncomfortable and tiring. That alone took two hours. And for nothing. All she got was some dumb memories from when she was five, and she and Josie had some babysitter named Seline.

There was something about them trying to raise Cade or whoever, and having some weird connection to Seline, who was apparently a siren. She didn't even bother to ask her mom about it once Dr Swan decided that they should call it a day for now, come back tomorrow. 

It was all a waste of time. Dr Swann said they were making progress, he thinks, and her mom was trying to be all positive. But she is no closer to figuring out what's going inside of her head or what monster has pulled her mind apart to a point where even one of the most skilled healers in the country isn't sure what to do. It almost feels like nothing they do is going to be able to fix this.

The exhaustion hits her again and she closes her eyes, just to block everything else out for a little while. A little while turns into a few hours. When she opens her eyes again, they're dry and she has to rub at them before she can see properly. Her head is pounding. No wonder she hates crying. 

The room is darker than it had been when she accidentally fell asleep. She pushes herself up on an elbow and carefully pulls the blinds aside, peering outside. The sun is setting.

Groaning, she flops back down onto the bed. Trust her to sleep away one of the last days of summer. Every moment is supposed to count; that's what she vowed along with a new outlook on life. If she only has six years, then everything has to be worth it. Right now, she's pretty sure that staying in the bed is more than worth it. 

Except now she's awake. Her head is a bit clearer than it was earlier, at least, so there's that. And honestly, the thought of sitting alone while the sun sets doesn't sound all that appealing, especially not when she can hear music drifting down from the roof. 

With just a touch of reluctance, Lizzie pushes herself back up and nearly rolls out of the bed. She stands up straight, pausing in the middle of the room for a moment to glance down at herself, then her bag. Her eyes catch the crystal. 

She curses under her breath. She had completely forgotten her promise to Josie to call her after the appointment. It's not as if she mentioned an exact time to her, but Josie's still likely to be worried all the same. 

She hurries to pull her top off. If Josie's going to be able to see her while she fills her in on everything that happened with Dr Swann, then she needs to at least look like she's holding herself together. There isn't a mirror close by for her to check, but she's pretty sure that her current appearance screams the complete opposite. 

The furthest she manages to get is tossing the top onto the bed before there's a knock at the door. It's light and purposefully quiet, the person behind it being cautious not to wake her. 

"Yeah?" she calls out uncertainly, faltering on the spot. 

"It's me," Kaleb's voice comes through, a little louder than his knock now that he knows she's awake. "Is it alright if I come in?"

Lizzie hesitates, glancing down at herself. She's still wearing a sports bra, and it's not as if she hasn't passed Kaleb many times on the way to and from the showers, especially after practice. 

Shrugging to herself, she drops her hands to her sides, and says, "sure."

She turns away, bending down to grab the crystal as the door opens. It doesn't glow immediately. At least Josie hasn't been waiting around for her to call. Or at least isn't anymore. 

She straightens back up and turns around as Kaleb walks over. He stops as soon as she does, standing by the end of the bed. A strange look crosses his face as he opens his mouth, then falters, his eyebrows raising slightly. Lizzie can't help but be confused as to what's clearly thrown him. The obvious answer wouldn't make any sense considering it's_ Kaleb_ and she's certain she looks a mess.

"Uh, I wanted to..." He shakes his head, pressing his lips together in a slight smile. "I just thought I'd see if you were up. I was gonna come see how you were doing once I got back in, but my momma said you needed some space."

"And yet...?" she prompts. 

"Well, Corey — you know, my cousin, the one you were eyeing up — started asking about you. And I just thought that you would hate not being there to hear it for yourself," he explains with a joking note to his voice. 

Lizzie raises her eyebrows, a slow grin forming on her lips as she pushes down her own surprise. Her love of the spotlight is well-known by everyone back home, especially when it comes to potential romance.

"Well, you thought right," she says, admittedly a little flattered that she's already caught someone's attention. Her body is still aching, though, and she shakes her head. "But I'm not really feeling in a flirting mood. I'd probably just embarrass myself in this state, and then it would be over before we even got anywhere."

"I don't know, Corey's pretty interested. You're pretty much exactly his type."

Lizzie laughs softly, and Kaleb smiles. She can't tell if that was his goal, but it works, at least for a moment. Kaleb's brow furrows slightly as she glances down, playing with the crystal in her hands. 

"What do you mean by this state?" he asks, and gives a shake of his head when she lifts her eyes back to him. "Your mom hasn't said anything but what happened with that healer. All she said was that you were tired."

She's grateful for that. Even if she knows it's not embarrassing or humiliating, and she knows that she can trust pretty much everyone around her, she still can't help but feel like it is in some way.

The fact that she's basically a lost cause. That they don't know if there's anything they can do to help her. The person with the similar case was driven mad, Dr Swann had told them, eventually unable to separate reality from whatever was going on inside of their head. They were never able to help them.

Her eyes burn and she quickly diverts her thought path, blinking as she bites down on the inside of her cheek. She nods quickly, trying to maintain her composure, but Kaleb's already looking worried, and she's not exactly an expert at keeping her emotions hidden away.

"It's fine, I'm fine," she hurriedly says as he opens his mouth, clearly to try and find something to calm her. She shakes her head, swallowing. "It's just...it's all overwhelming."

"Would something to eat help?" Kaleb offers, his voice taking back on that uncertain note from yesterday, stepping again into unfamiliar territory and yet not backing away. 

Lizzie falters, her head tilting as her eyebrows start to draw together. He gestures a hand over his shoulder. 

"Guessing you haven't eaten since breakfast, and there are still pancakes left over." 

The thought of food doesn't make her queasy now. And what she did eat of those pancakes were pretty good. 

"Do you have more strawberries and whipped cream?"

Kaleb grins, and nods. "Yeah, plenty."

He's gone before she can even respond, leaving her blinking at the empty space. Then there's another rush of air and he's back, blurring slightly as her eyes try to catch the movement. He's still wearing a grin, but there's now a plate topped with two pancakes, strawberries, and whipped cream in his hand. 

She happily accepts it from him with thanks. Her eyes narrow slightly as she gets a proper look at the pancakes. It's probably just her still-not-quite-functioning mind, but three dollops of the cream almost look purposefully positioned. One slightly curved line across the bottom with two more going down at the sides. Not to mention the two strawberry halves at the top.

"Did you turn my pancakes into a vampire?" she asks, looking back up at him, the corners of her mouth twitching up. Then she rolls her eyes. "Of course you did. If you're Aunt Bonnie's cousin then you know my uncle Damon."

"Made you smile, though," Kaleb says, and the way he does makes it sound as if anything would be worth it for that. 

She doesn't know how to respond, caught off-guard. Her skin tingles slightly. The little butterflies have returned to her stomach, brushing against her insides, and it's not the worst thing she's ever felt. She relaxes into the feeling and her smile grows instead of trying to question it. 

"I think you're getting the hang of this hosting thing," she jokes, flopping down onto the bed. She pulls her legs up, crossing them as he raises an eyebrow at her. "You've definitely got the chivalrous and charming thing down. Plus, pancakes. That's always going to go in your favour."

"Charming?" Kaleb repeats, amusement sparking in his voice. "High praise from you."

Lizzie rolls her eyes again as he sits beside her. 

"Sometimes," she says, turning her head to look at him only to find him grinning. "Others? Not so much."

Kaleb scoffs, but his amusement is still shining through, sensing her teasing. She's glad to know he has a good sense of humour. It definitely makes talking to him feel so effortlessly easy in a way she wasn't expecting. Then again, she can't say that she was expecting much of what's happened in the last two days. 

She carefully pulls off a piece of the top pancake, ensuring that she doesn't entirely ruin the vampire's fang. She can feel Kaleb's eye on her as she does, but she doesn't comment on it or even bring attention to it. It's almost nice, letting the silence settle around them. Comfortable. 

Then his initial question kicks its way back to the front of her mind, and everything inside of her sinks again. 

"You don't have to talk about it," Kaleb tells her, somehow sensing what she's thinking. 

"It's just hard to explain," she says, shaking her head. She keeps her eyes on the plate, busying herself with chewing as she holds eye contact with two strawberries. "Even I don't fully understand any of it, and it's driving me crazy. Literally."

Kaleb's eyebrows draw together at her subtle attempt at the truth, and she sighs quietly. Maybe it'll be a good thing to get it all out. After all, he was there for every single one of the monster attacks. Maybe he can remember something she can't. At the very least he'll be able to understand what she's talking about. 

"There's been something wrong with me since the start of the summer break," she tells him, even as her stomach tightens. "Maybe even a little while before that. I haven't been able to figure out what it is, but there's just this...this _thing_ inside of my head. Apparently it's not related to being bipolar. I guess that's a relief."

"What does it feel like to you?" Kaleb asks, all trace of humour gone from his voice. Replacing it is a genuine concern. 

She tries to think, but it almost feels impossible to explain.

"It's more of a feeling." Her skin crawls and it's like her insides go cold just thinking about it. "I know that something is off inside of me. It's like I'm forgetting something, but I don't know what. All I keep getting are these flashes of things that don't make any sense, like my brain's trying to make me remember, but it won't let me. It almost feels like something's stopping it."

She turns her head to look at Kaleb. Half of her is expecting him to look freaked. She wouldn't blame him; she's freaking out on the inside more than he ever could about this. 

And he does look a little freaked, but he's making no move to leave, and there's no fake pity. That's the one thing she's been dreading about anyone finding out. Not knowing what's going on inside your own head usually warrants that kind of thing. 

But he's processing what she said, mulling it over with mild concern. Mild concern, she can handle. 

"What'd the healer say?" he asks, but it's obvious that he can already take a guess. 

"There's a spell that we're trying," she says, rolling her eyes at the thought of it. "It's supposed to 'pull forward hidden memories' or something like that. It's uncomfortable as hell."

"Is it working?" 

Lizzie shakes her head, looking back down at the pancakes. The cream is starting to melt, but the other fang remains intact. 

"They don't know," she admits, and a sudden pang hits her square in the stomach at the reality of it. "They, uh...they said it'll take more than a day to see real progress. But the only other person who felt like this went crazy, apparently, so I'm not really holding out much hope. Basically, I'm screwed."

She's almost sure she feels a faint zap beneath her skin, but she took the bracelet off after it turned out to be pointless. 

"I'm being dramatic," she says, starting to shake her head again as she reminds herself of her vow.

"Nah, I think you're actually reacting pretty reasonably considering," Kaleb says, making her look back up at him.

She catches a glimpse of a small smile that's clearly an attempt to lighten things a little before it slips.

"You don't have to find a silver lining in this one, you know," he says, his voice softening as he speaks. "I can't say I totally understand what you're going through right now, but I can't imagine that it's all that great."

"I promised myself that this would be a year of positivity," she tells him. "I'm _supposed _to find the silver lining in everything, and say yes to everything. I can't choose not to just because I don't like this."

"No one can be completely positive for an entire year," Kaleb says.

Hearing him say it does make it seem a little more ridiculous than she had thought when she made the promise to herself.

"If I only have six years left to live, then I have to make the most of it, don't I?" she replies, shaking her head, desperation creeping into her voice. She wants to be better, she wants to be able to do this, but deep down she knows he's right. "I can't waste time being bitter about this when there is no more that I can do to change it than I can the merge."

Kaleb's expression flickers at her mention of the merge. He knows about it, she's sure, either from MG, or someone else at the school with the news somehow being spread within days. 

"You can't force yourself not to feel either," Kaleb says, his eyebrows furrowing, looking her in the eyes. "I get the whole being positive thing, but you're still human. It's a part of life, and you still have one to live. Being happy all the time just isn't gonna happen, no matter what you do, it's only gonna make you feel worse when it gets too much. You gotta feel things. The good and the bad. Otherwise, you're just pretending that everything's perfect and not really living a life at all."

Lizzie can only stare at him. Her shock is probably written all over her face. Shocked that everything he's saying actually makes far more sense than she thinks it should have, shocked that he's even giving her advice that is somehow pulling her away from that very dangerous edge.

No matter how much she pretends, she's always there; teetering over an abyss, her heels the only parts digging into the solid ground beneath her. There's always a breeze, threatening to push her, just when she's confident that she can take a step back to safety. 

She has to bite into the inside of her cheek, the burning in her eyes back. He's right. She is pretending, because she thought that was the right thing to do. Why bother focusing on the negative parts of her life when she only has six years of it left? Why not spend every moment she can being happy, and seeing the good in things, when she knows there's no good in her future? 

But saying yes to everything doesn't make her life any better, or change the fact that the merge is probably going to happen. The positivity promise was a step in the right direction and made with a good idea, but it was never going to work. Maybe she can still just try and be more positive about things without letting it dump her here. A complete mess.

"Wow, that was, uh..."

Her mouth stretches as she quickly blinks and ducks her head. Kaleb's eyes widen in alarm as she sniffles and wipes at her eye with the back of her hand, a soft chuckle passing her lips. 

"I didn't mean to—" he starts, clearly unable to figure out how best to handle Lizzie Saltzman crying in front of him. 

"No, you're right," she says, glancing back up at him. "I guess I just thought it would be easier to pretend and to not feel the bad parts. Knowing what's coming...I just didn't want to feel like this until I had to."

It sounds completely insane now that she's hearing herself say it. Trying to hold back any negative feelings for even a year, never mind six, was never going to work. If anything, it would work for a month before it just exploded inside of her. Even Josie can't be happy twenty-four-seven. What made her think she could?

Reality hits her all over again in a tidal wave. Embarrassment heats her skin and she hides her face in her hands, trying to stop the crying, at the very least. She can still feel Kaleb beside her, and she can't figure out if she would rather he left so that she can have a break down alone or if she wants him to stay. 

He makes the decision easier when she feels the bed shift, her heart jumping for a moment because she's finally managed to scare him off with only two days needed. She then feels a hand on her back, between her shoulder blades, and nearly startles. 

"You know, that healer was probably wrong anyway," Kaleb says.

She turns her head to look back up at him curiously, finding him watching her with a small smile curving his mouth. 

"We live in a world where magic, and dragons, and pits of goo that apparently keeps spitting out fairy tale creatures to kill us exists," he goes on, huffing out a chuckle and shaking his head. "There's gotta be a way to reverse whatever one of them did. Maybe it's that spell you're trying. Just give it some more time."

"What happened to less positivity, more embracing the bad parts?" she asks sarcastically, able to manage a smile in return. In truth, as silly as it sounds, what he said is actually making her feel a bit better. 

"Positivity is allowed in concentrated doses," Kaleb says. "Can't have the bad parts without the good either, gotta have a healthy mix of both. So, when the bad part happens, you lighten the mood and throw in something positive. Usually a joke or some sarcasm."

Lizzie can't help but laugh despite her eyes not being fully dry yet, and her throat still closed up, and her chest still tight. 

"That's smart," she says, wiping at one of her eyes. "No wonder we're getting along so well with the same sense of humour."

Kaleb chuckles his agreement, still smiling. It comforts her in a way. Enough to let a quiet settle back over them for a brief moment.

He doesn't remove his hand from her back, she can't help but notice, except to stretch across to her shoulder, squeezing lightly.

"You don't have to stay, you know," she tells him without looking up, still blinking to try and clear her vision. "I'm a total mess, and it's fine if you want to go."

"Well, I'm gonna head back up to the roof," he says, nodding to the door out of the corner of her eye. "Do you want to come with me or would you prefer to stay here?"

"Oh god," Lizzie shakes her head, laughing, "no. No one else can see me like this."

"Still hoping for a chance with Corey?" he asks, making her look up at him with a completely fake scowl that's ruined by her smile. "'Cause we still have an agreement. You don't date my relatives, I don't date yours."

Lizzie scoffs, and says, "as if you'd have a chance with Josie."

Kaleb's eyebrows raise, and she almost expects him to be offended. Words slip out of her mouth too easily and without much thought. For all she knows, Kaleb could secretly have a crush on Josie and she's just gone and shot him down for her. But he's laughing again.

"Nah, MG told me she's got a thing going on with Landon now." He shrugs. "Besides. She's not really my type."

Lizzie doesn't know why she feels relief at that. It turns into curiosity though, and she narrows her eyes at him.

"What is your _type_ then?" she asks. "Wait: let me guess. Either a vampire or a human. Vampire for obvious reasons; you like someone who understands you. But I get the feeling you've bonded an awful lot with Uncle Damon, so you probably have a thing for humans, right?"

Kaleb's surprise shows on his face, and she has to wonder how that sounded to him, because it sounded far better in her head. Once again, he seems to take it with ease, finding amusement in it. 

"Shockingly, no."

It's her turn to show her surprise. If anything, she thought she was pretty close. For a second, she realizes that maybe she shouldn't have been guessing by species but a little more specific. Gender, perhaps. It's easy for that sort of thing to slip her mind when neither she nor Josie has ever had much of a care when it comes to relationships, even when they were younger with their crushes. 

"I don't like the idea of dragging a human into this kind of thing," Kaleb tells her, his expression twisting. "Not long-term, anyway. Feeding's different. I can just compel them to forget, but I wouldn't be able to do that to someone I was with, and with everything happening with Triad, it's just..." he shakes his head, "it's too dangerous."

It makes complete sense. It's one of the reasons her mom has for never trying to meet anyone new, even if she always diverts the subject when Lizzie tries to casually bring it up like she does with her dad. Lizzie just wasn't expecting him to have been thinking it. 

"Vampires then?" she asks, half-joking. 

"I don't really care about the whole species thing, to be honest," he says. "Growing up around witches then being turned into a vampire sort of does that. It's more about what they're like, as cheesy as it sounds. We just gotta get along, be able to have a joke. The usual. I just don't have that connection with Josie, that's all."

"They also have to be hot, right?" she asks, arching an eyebrow at him. "Come on, even I go on looks."

He rolls his eyes, but grins. "I'm not gonna say no, but it's not the first thing I look for. If I happen to notice, then hey."

Lizzie snorts, and he laughs, setting her off as well. Her face and her sides are aching a little, but it's so much better compared to what she was feeling earlier. She would happily take this, including Kaleb and talking to him like this, over everything else that's happened today.

Kaleb gives her shoulder another squeeze and finally pulls his hand away. Part of her actually wishes he didn't. It was grounding and keeping her distracted, but she's a little more at ease now anyway.

"But don't worry about any of that," he says and nudges her shoulder with his own, shifting the conversation back. "No one's gonna be able to tell that you've been crying or anything. Seriously, you look great."

Lizzie rolls her eyes at him, scoffing even as her skin heats up. She can't tell if he's being sincere or not as he smiles at her reaction, but it certainly does a good job at making her reconsider. Even if he's just being nice, it's sweet of him to even try, especially after sitting and listening to her break down. 

"I suppose I could join civilisation for a little while."

"Yeah?" he says, grinning.

"But not like this." She glances pointedly down at herself. "I need to change, and I promised I would call Josie after my appointment, which, I still haven't done yet."

"Well, if Josie hasn't found a way to curse you through a phone, I'll see you up on the roof, yeah?" 

She nods, smiling as he stands up. He returns both, and she's almost tempted to just go with him right now as he crosses the room, pausing in the doorway. But she made a promise to Josie, and she really needs to at least see her. So, she just gives a little wave to him, making him laugh and shake his head at her before he leaves her alone. 

There's still a smile on her face as she follows his lead, setting aside the plate of pancakes before closing the door and going back to her original plan before he knocked on the door. She picks the crystal back up and curls up on the bed, now muttering the spell to activate it. 

Josie answers far faster than she was expecting. She flickers into view, sitting cross-legged in front of her with an anxious look on her face. Lizzie notes that she looks rather dressed up, with her hair swept to one side and wearing a dress she's worn only once before. 

"Hey, Jo, and before you say it, I know I took way too long to call you, and I'm sorry," Lizzie says before Josie can get beyond opening her mouth. "I was exhausted once we got back and I fell asleep."

"No, it's okay," Josie quickly says, shaking her head, concern knitting into her brow. "How did it go?"

Lizzie sighs but fills her in on everything. All of the tests Dr Swann did, everything he said about the similar case and not knowing what to do, the spell that they're now trying. It feels draining just talking about it, but seeing Josie, sitting there, listening to her, it makes it easier. She just wishes for not the first time that she was actually there with her, back home. 

"He said it was caused by a creature?" Josie muses, the confusion in her voice. "I can't even remember any that came from Malivore that had that type of ability. I would suggest that maybe it was the slugs from the unicorn, but they never infected you."

"I was thinking the Gargoyle," Lizzie admits, eating one of the strawberry eyes from the pancake vampire. "Because I was the only one it hurt, and that greyscale was spreading for a while. Maybe it had some weird side-effect on me and has messed up my head."

Josie's eyes widen at the theory, clearly in agreement that it's at least a possibility. She honestly isn't sure what exactly the side-effects of being clawed by a gargoyle are aside from the obvious one, and their main priority at the time had just been how to kill it. Maybe Dorian missed something in the books, something about the greyscale doing more than just paralysing her and turning her to stone.

"Well, whatever it was," Josie looks her in the eyes, full of determination and sincerity and everything that's always been there whenever she's needed her most, "we'll figure it out, okay? When you get back here, we'll go through every book on gargoyles, and every other Malivore monster that's been here, just in case."

Lizzie smiles, and she realizes just how much she misses Josie. Maybe she's not the only one who's codependent after all. 

"Are you okay, though?" Josie asks. "Like, really? I know it's a lot, and I wish I could be there to help."

"As much as I would love to take this opportunity to try once again to convince you of why you should be here, having fun, instead of spending your every waking hour keeping an eye on dad," Lizzie ignores Josie as she rolls her eyes, "I'm fine, really."

Josie looks entirely unconvinced, though she'll give her credit for managing to keep it nearly completely hidden. She can't really blame her either when she was pretending that everything was fine and that she was out sightseeing just a few days ago.

"Seriously, Jo, I mean it," she assures her, picking apart the last piece of the pancake. "I had a bit of a breakdown before I called, but...Kaleb was there. I talked to him, and he was actually really sweet. And MG's here, too. I'm working on it, and I'm doing okay for now."

"Wait, hold on," Josie's eyebrows furrow in confusion, "you talked to Kaleb about all of this?"

"Well, I was upset. He was there and he listened to me. He's actually a really good listener." She shrugs. "Plus, he gave me some really good advice that I plan on taking." She laughs, and says, "it's no big deal, Jo."

Josie makes a face that isn't subtle in the slightest. The corners of her lips twitch as she looks down, pretending to let it drop. Lizzie's eyes narrow, staring at her, her hand pausing in its movement towards the second pancake.

"What?" she asks, suspicion creeping up on her. "Why are you smiling like that?"

Josie looks up like a deer caught in headlights. "Smiling like what?"

"Oh please, do not try and play all innocent on me," Lizzie scoffs. "You haven't been since we were five years old. I know that smile. It's a smile of secrets and knowledge. Now talk."

"I just haven't heard you talk about Kaleb like that before aside from yesterday," Josie says, raising a shoulder in a half-shrug, that smile perfectly in place as evidence to Lizzie's point. "It's nice. I'm glad you two are getting along."

Lizzie's suspicion grows at the way she says it. It's almost too casual and sincere to be so innocent. She knows Josie, and she's never been good at keeping things from her when she's looking for it. 

"We are," she agrees then groans. "You're not still on that whole thing from yesterday, are you? I was kidding when I said I would date Kaleb. He's..."

She falters, her conversation with him coming back as she goes to say not her type. The words somehow don't feel right. 

"Just a friend," she says, but that doesn't feel any better despite it technically being the truth.

It's probably just because of that weird dream she had. Dreams always have a habit of making her feel weird the day after, especially around someone who was in them. It's just because he decided to show up, that's all.

"You realize that's exactly what I said about Landon, right?" Josie says, raising an eyebrow at her. 

"That is completely different," Lizzie argues. "You were clearly head over heels for him, which, I still don't get. But Kaleb and I are — I mean, not that there is a Kaleb and I, obviously. But..."

She's forced to pause again as nothing sounds right. They are just friends. She knows what having feelings for someone feels like. It's this intense, overwhelming thing that makes her mouth unable to stop talking and her brain short-circuits, leading to the most embarrassing encounters. 

"If I liked Kaleb, I would already have humiliated myself at least twice in front of him by now," she says, convinced that that's enough to prove she's right. It has to be. "Well, unless you count breaking down in front of him. And whatever the hell happened at breakfast, but that was more to do with his sister."

Even Josie looks a little surprised at that. It's not like Lizzie tries to do it, it's just what happens when she has a crush on someone. She did it with the first guy she ever had a crush on, and with Penelope, and with Rafael. There's been more, and every time, she's managed to make a fool of herself because she says something that was supposed to stay inside of her head or does something wrong. 

"Maybe it's easier because he's your friend," Josie suggests, no longer teasing. "You've known him for a little over a year. Maybe you're just starting to like him. The fact that you don't think you've done or said anything embarrassing could be a good sign that this will be different."

"Different how?" Lizzie questions, forgetting to protest.

"I don't know," Josie says, and shrugs. "I guess you'll have to figure that out. Talk to him. If it turns out that you don't actually have any feelings for him past friendship, then there's no harm done."

"What if I do?" Worry has now slipped into her voice at the thought. "What am I supposed to do then?"

Josie raises her eyebrows at her, but she doesn't comment on Lizzie's change of mind about her own feelings. She thought she was sure, but the more she considers the possibility, the more sense it does seem to make. Especially after the difference she's been noticing far too much in him and that dream. And the butterflies that may or may not have been a metaphor.

"Then...you tell him." Josie laughs at Lizzie's disbelief. "Lizzie, it's not a big thing. I took the risk with Landon and it worked out fine. If you do like Kaleb, then just tell him that, and then you can see how things happen from there."

"That's easy for you to say. I've already been dumped on my birthday this year."

"And my ex-girlfriend who I still don't know how I feel about moved to Belgium and might never come back."

Lizzie huffs, but she knows Josie's making a good point, even if she doesn't want to hear it. The thought of yet another rejection makes her want to ignore the entire thing. If she doesn't know how she feels then nothing can go wrong. 

A little voice in the back of her mind reminds her of her vow. A year of yes. Take every opportunity that comes her way.

"I don't know. It's been nice out here, with no one knowing who I am," Lizzie admits, shaking her head slowly. "That's what I want. Someone who doesn't know me as 'Crazy Lizzie' and know all of the dark, twisted parts of my life. The thought of being with someone who already knows all of that is...I don't know if I can do it again. I need something new."

Josie pauses for a moment. There's no judgement in her expression at all. If anything, she almost looks understanding.

"But Kaleb doesn't know any of that stuff," Josie softly points out. "You two haven't really been friends, remember? He's practically a stranger who you've worked with a couple of times. And...he doesn't see you as crazy."

"But he's heard people say it," Lizzie counters bitterly. "That's the problem. At least that guy in Sweden just saw me as this mysterious, gorgeous stranger. Kaleb has literally seen me have a breakdown and listen to me talk about the healers and the medication. How could he not see me as crazy?"

"Lizzie, he talked you through it. If he thought you were crazy, he would probably have just left you to it." She sighs. "Just because he may have heard a few things around school, that doesn't mean he pays attention to any of it. Just...don't dismiss the idea too quickly, okay? Like I said, he could be different."

Different. It's the same word she keeps using to describe whatever is going on when she notices something new about Kaleb. Except it's not new at all, because she's known him for a year. He knows her. A weight shifts onto her chest, and the whole thing feels even more complicated than it already had.

"So, how are things between you and Landon?" she asks, looking for anything that will change the subject. 

"Nice try, but we're still fine."

Lizzie rolls her eyes but simply busies herself with eating instead. Josie seems to take the hint. 

"Where's the next stop after Georgia?" she asks. "There's only about a week left before the next semester starts, and you are planning on coming back before then, right?"

"Of course I am," Lizzie says. "I'm not just going to leave you there to deal with the new headmaster on your own. Mom says he's great, though. Some British sorcerer guy. Think a mix between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."

Josie laughs. "Oh great. The Hogwarts jokes are really going to be heavy this year."

Lizzie hums her agreement. "But I'm not sure where we're going next. I guess it depends on how long it's going to take to figure out if this spell is working or not. We might have to just come straight home from here, but I'm hoping we manage to squeeze in at least a day in New Orleans if that's the case."

"Why New Orleans?" Josie asks, a puzzled look on her face. 

"I don't know," Lizzie shrugs, "I guess I just wanna see what it's like."

"Alright, well, if you do manage to convince mom, then bring me back a souvenir," Josie jokes.

"I hear they have some of the most powerful witches there, so there's a good chance they have some real magic stores since everyone knows that New Orleans is home to the supernatural anyway."

"If you buy another love potion just to make another Harry Potter reference, I'll get mom to ban them."

Lizzie gasps, looking up from her pancake. "You'd pull an Umbridge on me?"

"For the safety of the school?" Josie nods without hesitation. "Yes."

"Ugh, you'd make a great member of the Inquisitorial Squad," Lizzie huffs, shaking her head with mock disappointment before sighing and holding her hands up. "But fine. No love potions."

"And nothing that's going to hex anyone."

"Josie, have a little more faith in me," Lizzie says, bringing a hand to her chest as Josie raises an eyebrow at her. "I am turning over a new leaf, remember? Positivity and a say-yes-to-everything attitude. Well, mostly."

Josie rolls her eyes, but she lets it go. They easily change topic, talking for a little while longer. Lizzie can't help but always wish it last longer, but she reminds herself that she'll be home soon. By the time that they do hang up, Lizzie has no pancakes left and they're both happy. That makes a change.

She gets up off the bed, setting the crystal safely back in her bag where her mom won't find it. It's more about the magic used to make it work. Even if it's not dark magic, it's not exactly the conventional stuff either, and her mom may have a few questions about where she got it from. It's best she just doesn't know she has it at all. 

Lizzie pauses for a moment, glancing between the door and her bag. She said she would go up to the roof once she was done. But that conversation with Josie has her uneasy. If she goes back up, then she has to go through with Josie's advice, and the thought of that admittedly scares her a little. Rejection has become a close friend of hers. 

She groans, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. "You're being an idiot. So what if you have a slight thing for him?"

It might not even be that at all. That's the whole point of figuring it out. And if she does, then she can just ignore it until it passes. She's sure that won't be hard once they're back home. It's probably just seeing him in a different environment that's throwing her is all. 

Giving herself a mini-pep talk does the trick. Confident, she finally finishes changing, slipping on a casual red dress. Then she strides out of the room, heading for the roof, completely relaxed and at ease.


	4. I do love a good sunset

The roof is warm when Lizzie steps out onto it even with the sun setting in the distance. The sky almost doesn't look real; like a painting, bright orange fading into a strange shade of pink, swirled together underneath someone's paintbrush on a canvas. It's the perfect backdrop for the casual festivities, the sound of quiet laughter and chatter filling the air around her.

She searches around for a familiar face or two. Her mom is the first she spots, lounging on a chair with Kaleb's moms and looking like she's enjoying herself. She and Aunt Bonnie have always been close, so it's no surprise to her that she gets along so easily with other members of the Bennett family. 

It still feels so weird in her head to think of Kaleb as a Bennett. He's always just sort of been...Kaleb.

Her eyes move without her really thinking about what she's looking for as she continues slowly forward. She spots MG, half-hidden away behind the stairwell and leaning back against the balcony with his arms propped up. He's talking away to Kym, unsurprisingly. And with them is Kaleb.

Everything Josie said comes back to her in that stern little voice of hers. Part of her wishes that this newfound confidence and boldness hadn't decided to make an appearance, but the other part is strangely grateful. If Josie's talking her into something, maybe there's less chance of her messing it up. Hopefully.

Taking in a deep breath, she walks forward, approaching them with a smile. Kym notices her first, her eyes darting to her. A smirk settles across her face, but it's kind and almost welcoming in a way. 

"Looking cute, Saltzman," she says, eyeing her exaggeratedly as she reaches them.

Lizzie raises her eyebrows, but her smile grows as she plays along, enjoying how easy it feels. 

"Thank you," she says, shrugging, and throws a look back at her. "You're pretty hot yourself. I imagine even more so while using magic."

Kym laughs at the joking dig as Kaleb and MG stare at the two of them as if they've grown extra heads. It's funny to watch them exchange a bemused look, having no idea what's going on. In truth, Lizzie isn't positive either, but she's getting along with Kym, and it's nice. She could do with as many friends as she can get if she's honest. 

"I told you, not my words," Kym says, grinning. 

Lizzie can't help but notice her eyes darting to Kaleb. Her own narrow a touch, the cogs in her mind turning. Surely she can't mean...it had to be MG who said all of that stuff about her to Kym. 

"What the hell are you two on about?" Kaleb asks, perfectly timed, as he looks between them in disbelief. 

"Yeah, I'm sort of lost," MG chimes in.

"Inside joke," Kym says, dismissing it with a shrug. 

"You met two days ago, how do you have inside jokes?" Kaleb asks, shaking his head.

There's something about the way he says it that makes her think it's not so much the fact that they do, but the context of the joke. It's the same look he got on his face at breakfast. Curiosity sparks inside of her, possibly mixing with a touch of amusement.

"Because we have people skills and like to socialize," Kym says, arching an eyebrow at him. "Unlike you."

Kaleb rolls his eyes and scoffs, but he doesn't try and argue. Lizzie does admit that she can only really recall him talking to a handful of people. Mainly the vampires, and that was sort of just a requirement. Cliques are unavoidable, even at schools for the supernatural. Loners aren't really a thing back home now that she thinks about it. 

"It's good to see you're okay," MG says, swiftly changing the subject as he looks at Lizzie with a soft, genuine smile, giving her a slight nod. "You made it up for the best part of spending summer out here."

"Well," Lizzie throws a glance at Kaleb, smiling, and shrugs, "I do love a good sunset. And I would hate to miss all of the fun."

"Then you definitely showed up just in time," Kym says, that smirk spreading across her face once more, a mischevious glint in her eyes. "Who's up for some dancing?"

Lizzie's eyebrows shoot up. She starts to shake her head, opening her mouth to politely protest, but Kym's already walking away with MG's cheering encouragement. Lizzie stares after her, watching her as she walks up to someone. She says something to them, to which they nod, and with a wave of her hand, music starts playing from seemingly out of nowhere.

Kym grins over at them. She starts winding her way back to them as Lizzie shares a look with Kaleb, uncertain of what to do. MG's already clapping his hands together and laughing as he goes to join her, almost everyone else quickly rising to take advantage of the music.

"Come on!" MG says to her and Kaleb, walking backwards as he nods his head behind him. "Let's have some _fun_!"

Lizzie only raises her eyebrows higher, staring after him. She huffs out a laugh as he spins back around and joins in with everyone else who has gotten to their feet and started to dance, joking around. 

"They don't seriously want us to dance, right?" she asks, glancing at Kaleb.

"Oh, no, they do," Kaleb says.

"Come on you two," Kym says. "You got two days before you go back to that weird school of yours."

She reaches out, surprising Lizzie as she takes her hand. As reluctant as she is, Lizzie rolls her eyes when Kym flashes her a grin, and allows her to pull her forward, joining in. Kaleb gives in with a sigh as MG comes back only to pull the same move, giving him a light push forward.

It's admittedly nice. Lizzie sure as hell doesn't mind being able to relax and let go after the day she's had. So, she enjoys it. She laughs when Kym winks then spins her, steadying herself a moment later, breathless. Her face aches as she plays along with MG and watches him and Kaleb have some weird dance-off that catches a few extra pairs of eyes. Her skin heats up when she accidentally bumps into Kaleb and his hand moves to her arm. 

It's so easy to just let everything else slip away for the moment. She catches her mom watching them with a bright smile, and her own face splits into a grin as she waves over at her. Then MG's got her arm and is spinning her right back around to join them again, taking the breath from her lungs and filling it with joy and laughter in its place as the four of them dance.

The sky has only turned a deeper shade of red and pink by the time that Lizzie has to bow out, trying to catch her breath, her sides and legs aching. Vampires apparently have far more stamina for this type of thing, she realizes, as Kaleb and MG continue to joke around while Kym wanders off to get a drink.

Lizzie follows her, unscrewing a bottle of water and downing at least half of its contents in one go. Kym raises an eyebrow at her when she glances at her, but she just takes a drink from her own bottle. 

"I would ask if this is what it's like every summer around here, but you were off building houses, so." Lizzie turns around to face back out at the rest of the rooftop. Most people are still up and moving as the song changes, others having the same idea as her and Kym. Their moms haven't moved from their chairs, happily getting entertainment out of the rest of them. 

"Pretty much," Kym laughs. "Even without Milton, there's always someone starting something. He does liven things up a bit around here, though."

"Yeah," Lizzie agrees slowly, shooting her a look out of the corner of her eye. "I can see that."

She did consider helping him out with the whole relationship thing. Now would be as good an opportunity as any. Although, she's not so sure that MG really needs the help now that she's seen him and Kym together. She clearly likes spending time with him, a fond look on her face already as she watches him and Kaleb. 

Still, a little meddling isn't beneath her, and she's sure MG would help her out if he knew she liked someone.

"You know, he's a really nice guy," she says, nodding when Kym looks at her. "He's super sweet. And he'll remember all of your favourite things! That's a sign of a really good memory, which, speaking of, he is incredibly smart. And he's so caring. He just loves helping people."

Kym raises an eyebrow at her. Lizzie gets the feeling that she might have gone a little overboard. 

"Do you have a crush on him or something?" she asks, amusement lacing her voice.

"What? No!" Lizzie quickly shakes her head, eyes wide. "No, no, no. We're _just_ friends. Trust me."

Kym considers her for a moment, then hums, giving a slight nod.

"I believe you," she says, and Lizzie sinks with relief. "I'm glad. I kinda like him, to be honest." 

Lizzie smiles, satisfied as Kym looks away, turning back to watch Kaleb and MG. 

"And Kaleb would have been pretty disappointed."

Lizzie stops, having been halfway into doing the same. She turns back, her eyebrows furrowing.

"What does that mean?" she asks.

Kym barely falters, glancing at her. A smirk twitches at the corners of her mouth.

"You know," she says as if her meaning is the most obvious thing in the world. "Guys usually aren't too happy when the girl they're crushing on has feelings for their best friend."

The words hit Lizzie like a fast car on a steep hill, everything dropping right through to the ground. She blinks slowly, a beat passing as she just stares at her, her mind coming to a screeching halt. There must have been a word or two in there that she misheard. Crushing on, maybe. 

Maybe it's another joke. She doesn't know exactly what Kym's sense of humour is like, but maybe it's weird like that and doesn't quite make sense. 

"Uh, what?" she asks, and gives a nervous laugh. "You're — you're kidding, right?"

Kym stops just as quickly now, tensing. Lizzie sees her eyes widen as she quickly turns to look at her. She would recognize the look of someone who's just realized they've said the wrong thing a mile away. She's worn it herself one too many times, she's sure.

"Wait, you seriously didn't know?" Kym asks, her voice telling her that she definitely wasn't aware of that. 

Lizzie's stomach gets thrown for a loop. Her mind isn't much better either.

"Oh my god, you're not joking," Lizzie breathes. "I mean, I thought that _maybe_ — oh my god."

"I knew that he hadn't said anything because of MG, and something about that wolf dude you were dating," Kym hurries to explain, shaking her head as Lizzie just stares blankly, trying to process it. "But before you came up he said you talked, and I just thought that he must have told you. He said he was going to mention it to clear the air after what happened at breakfast!"

Something clicks in Lizzie's head and she wants to groan. That must have been why he came to check on her. Twice. She never even gave him the right opportunity to say anything, assuming that Kym's telling her the truth and not just trying to mess with Kaleb. 

She sucks in a breath, shaking her head, and manages to say, "well, he didn't."

"Damn," Kym curses, then quickly presses on, "you can't tell him I said anything, alright? He doesn't even talk to me about this stuff, to be honest. He just mentions things here and there. I wouldn't even have known he liked anyone at all if I hadn't asked and he just told me about you, but it was barely anything."

Lizzie can't even begin to imagine Kaleb talking about her to anyone unless it's to complain. The thought of him telling Kym he likes her makes even less sense to her. How didn't she see that? Usually, everyone's so obvious about it. Sure, she tends to see things here and there on rare occasions, like Rafael. But she hadn't even considered Kaleb.

"I won't...say anything," she assures her, as distant as it may sound to her own ears. "But — out of curiosity, what exactly has he said about me?"

"Practically nothing," Kym says, shrugging. "He's pretty open, but he isn't really one to go on about someone just 'cause he likes them, you know? All he's really said was what I told you when you got here."

Another wave of realization crashes down on her. 

"Of course," Lizzie says, throwing a hand out. "I thought maybe it was MG, but that — never mind. Oh my _god_."

"Just a question," Kym says, briefly drawing her attention back to her and away from the tidal wave of new information her brain is currently being flooded with as if it doesn't go through enough as it is. "Do you like him?"

The question somehow manages to catch her off-guard even with everything else. She blinks slowly, her lips parting as Kym waits for an answer. Her skin warms as the reality of it all sinks in, but as she considers the question carefully, it doesn't throw her as much as it did when Josie made her ask herself it. 

"I — I don't know," she says helplessly, shaking her head. "I didn't think so up until last night, but there's a really big possibility that I might. I mean, he's been really nice to me, and we have the same sense of humour, and I know you're his sister, so I apologize, but he is also pretty hot."

Kym gives a slight laugh, but Lizzie's mind is spinning and verging on spiralling. She took Josie's advice, and she's been talking to Kaleb. The second she had joined them, though, the plan had completely slipped from her mind. 

She glances back over in Kaleb's direction, finding him and MG in the middle of yet another strange vampire dance-off. The subtle yet almost annoying fluttering returns to her stomach and it hits her all over again. 

"Okay," she says, nodding a little too quickly in a way that her therapist might observe as erratic, "no, yeah, I definitely like him. Which is really weird because this does not feel at all like it usually does. Oh god, what am I supposed to do?"

"Alright, you want some friendly advice then? Yeah, we're friends now," Kym says, waving it off as she rests a hand on Lizzie's shoulder, making her turn her eyes back on her. She laughs, but Lizzie isn't getting the joke. "Go and tell him."

Lizzie groans. "Why do people keep saying that? When has telling anyone that you have feelings for them ever worked out for anyone? Never is the answer."

"Oh my god, you really are dramatic."

Lizzie takes a guess that Kaleb may have mentioned that at some point as well. She can't bring herself to be offended. 

Kym rolls her eyes at her but gives her a light push with the hand still on her shoulder, waving her bottle of water in Kaleb and MG's direction as she grins. 

"He likes you, you like him, I'm really not seeing how this could end badly," she says, and doesn't give Lizzie more than a chance to start to protest before adding, "just go and talk to him before I curse the both of you."

It seems like an empty threat but Lizzie doesn't know Kym well enough to be certain of that. Refraining from groaning again, she forces herself to give into Kym's extra little push forward, walking slowly. 

In the back of her mind, a little voice that always seems to pipe up at the worst moments whispers that this is a terrible idea. She knows that, and that's the problem, because now that she's doing it, she can't seem to make herself stop.

No matter how this ends, she's going to have to spend the next year living in the same building as him. She and Rafael are fine even after everything, so maybe it won't be so bad. 

The thought inspires some confidence back into her. At least enough to pull herself up to her full height and turn her nervous steps into strides, even if her hands are fidgeting. She glances back to find Kym following, falling into step beside her as they approach. 

"Just stay calm, it's gonna be fine," she whispers, leaning in with a twinkle in her eyes. "Though, I'm pretty sure I remember Kaleb finds it cute when you get all flustered."

"Not helping," Lizzie hisses, her face heating up.

Kym grins, but the conversation drops as they reach Kaleb and MG, who finally stand still. 

"Hey." MG nods at Kym, his face splitting into a smile. 

"Hey, do you wanna come with me to pick a different song?" Kym asks without missing a beat.

Lizzie shoots her an exasperated look, but if she notices, she doesn't let it faze her in the slightest. 

MG's eyebrows raise an inch or two in surprise, but he shrugs, nodding. "Sure, why not." His grin brightens. "We could use a slow song. What's your favourite?"

Kym takes his arm as she answers his question, already in the process of leading him away as if it isn't the most obvious move she could have made. Lizzie is admittedly a tiny bit grateful for the easy opening, though. 

"'Cause that wasn't weird," Kaleb says sarcastically, staring after them. 

Lizzie laughs, but it sounds off even to her. Judging by the way Kaleb looks at her, she's guessing it does to him as well. She's sure she's already turning a lovely and very telling shade of red by now. And there she was telling Josie that she hadn't embarrassed herself in front of him. 

"You okay?" he asks, but fortunately for her, it doesn't seem to be in reference to her own strange behaviour. "You know, after that talk? Did you manage to get a hold of Josie?"

"Oh, yeah," Lizzie says, her shoulders relaxing with relief as she shakes her head. "Yeah, no, we talked. She actually said pretty much the same thing you did. With a side of slightly more annoying sisterly advice and teasing, of course. Not about the healer or the brain thing, just relationship stuff."

It's a sly, subtle way for her to slide it in there, get the conversation onto the right track. She just needs him to take the bait. Fortunately for her, he's as observant as she was counting on him being. 

"Oh yeah?" he asks, somehow managing to be the complete epitome of nonchalance with just enough curiosity for her to know that Kym didn't just throw her right into the middle of the pit of humiliation. "What kind of relationship stuff?"

"Just...helping me figure out if I like someone," she says as if shrugging it off, starting to walk, taking slow steps towards the edge of the balcony. "She pretty much told me to just get over myself and deal with it. But in a loving way."

She reaches out, leaning against the balcony. It's hot from the sun that's close to set by now, but she keeps her arms folded on it all the same, directing her eyes out across the city beneath them. It actually looks pretty.

"While we're on the subject," Kaleb starts.

Lizzie collects her breath, holding it in her lungs as she bites the inside of her bottom lip to suppress a smile. She remains calm as he joins her, barely a few inches of space between them. The bright purple and yellow butterflies swoop around in her stomach, and she's realizing now that it might have been fairly obvious before she talked to Josie. 

"That thing at breakfast this morning. Kym and MG were just joking around 'cause of me."

"What do you mean?" she asks, turning to face him.

Her heart's beating too fast in her chest. She just needs to hear him say it, confirm that it's the truth, and then she can let herself believe that she really has feelings for him. Even though she knows it can't be that easy. The chances of him just coming out and admitting it if it's true, just like that, are slim. 

"Well, I didn't exactly think I was ever gonna have to say anything considering we barely talked before, but," Kaleb ducks his head, smiling, before looking her in the eyes and saying, "I sort of have a thing for you."

Lizzie blinks. Her eyes widen, and she's almost certain her heart has decided to leap right over the edge of the balcony. So maybe it really can be that easy. Since when were things easy in her life? This isn't supposed to go this well. 

"Kym knew that, hence, breakfast," he explains. "I didn't say anything to MG until a couple days ago 'cause I didn't wanna hurt him, but I've got a feeling he knew already and I'm guessing it's something to do with her as well."

Something in Lizzie's mind says that he might have known more about her side of the feelings. It at least explains why he was suddenly acting so strange yesterday. She wasn't exactly subtle in her checking Kaleb out now that she thinks about it. 

"Either way, I just wanted you to know," he says, still smiling. "Don't worry, though, all our conversations were strictly on the grounds of friendship, alright? We cool?"

Lizzie doesn't know how to respond. She can only gape at him, her jaw somewhere on the ground, and she probably resembles some odd fish, flailing to come up with some sort of coherent response as it would on dry land. 

"You...have a thing for me?" she repeats in disbelief, because there is no way it was that simple. 

"Well, it was the easier way of saying I have feelings for you without sounding like MG, so," he chuckles, somehow remaining completely unfazed, "yeah, basically. Look, I promise it's not gonna be a big thing or anything. Would it have been better if I hadn't told you?"

Lizzie's eyes widen and suddenly she's panicking.

"What? No. No, absolutely not," she hurries to assure him, even going as far as to reach out, grabbing his arm without really registering it. "I'm glad you told me, because I like you, too. That's why I brought up relationships in the first place. I just — I wasn't expecting you to be so casual about it._"_

Kaleb's brow furrows, and a concern that her outburst has officially made whatever feelings he may have had for her disintegrate into thin air right there and then certainly runs through her mind. 

"I don't see a point in making a big deal out of my feelings," he says, glancing down at her hands on his arm before his eyes snap back up to her. "Hold up, can you — _what_? You_ like_ me? Since when?"

"Since yesterday. Well, sort of half an hour ago, but I don't know if it started with that dream I had last night or yesterday when I got here and there was something different about you. Or maybe I've liked you longer and I just haven't realized because of everything going on back home at school," she says, and she can feel herself rambling. She tries to shake herself out of it. "Not the point."

"Then what is the point?" he asks, clearly just as confused as she now feels. "'Cause I didn't really have much of one past telling you that I like you. Safe to say I wasn't expecting you to say it back."

"Thank your sister and mine for that," Lizzie says, and that does nothing to solve the puzzled look he's fixing her with. 

She shakes her head again, letting go of his arm as she holds her hands up in between them.

"Okay, clearly neither of us planned this far ahead."

Kaleb agrees, and she falters for a moment, trying to think. Josie's advice on what to do if things somehow miraculously turned out well was moderately vague, unfortunately. Which means relying on her own instincts. Because they've never failed her before. She can hear the sarcasm being directed at her from her own internal dialogue. 

"So...any suggestions?" she asks, raising hopeful eyebrows at him. "To be quite honest, this part never usually goes this well for me, so I'm sort of in new territory."

"If you're in new territory then I'm screwed," Kaleb jokes, though it feels partially sincere. 

She can't help but smile, rolling her eyes at him. "I mean, I have an idea. A few of them. But, you know, I just wanted to see if you wanted to make the next move or whatever."

Her heart is still beating at an unsteady rhythm, practically trying to squeeze through her ribs. It's making her face flush as she looks away from him, trying to keep her cool. 

"Here, I got an idea, too."

She lifts her head back up to look at him and her eyes grow wide as he steps closer. There's a smile on his lips that's got his usual touch of smugness to it, almost a smirk. It makes those butterflies swoop and flutter, brushing against every possible nerve their little wings can reach once again.

A smile of her own settles across her lips as he raises his eyebrows for just a second, checking with her. Then she leans in, barely registering her own hands moving to either side of his neck, and kisses him. He leans into it with ease, their movements slow and almost careful.

Lizzie's faintly aware of the other people nearby, but they're tucked away in a little corner, barely visible to anyone with the stairwell hiding them. And she can't quite bring herself to care either way when her skin is on fire. Different is one of the first words that come to mind; different from what she was expecting, from her last kiss. It's swiftly followed by a mix between amazing and breathtaking, and she's too lost in it to mentally scold herself for the pun.

She pulls back first. "A date."

Kaleb blinks, his eyebrows raising an inch or two, caught off-guard. "Uh...?"

"Sorry, I just realized that the next smart move would have been to suggest a date," she says, her face flushing an even warmer, probably darker, shade of red. "You know, because that's what people do. I mean, sometimes. If you're not a dating type of person then that's fine. I just know that it can be...a good idea for people who like each other."

Kaleb's smiling again, and any worries that she's messing this up leaves her mind. He licks his bottom lip as he nods, huffing out a soft chuckle as his teeth catch it for a second. Lizzie has to pull her eyes back up to meet his, trying not to be so obvious. He doesn't seem to mind.

"Yeah, a date sounds good," he agrees, to her surprise. 

"Really?" she asks as he gently places a hand on her wrist, pulling it away from his neck but not letting go. 

"Once we're back at school," he says, and she notices he's rubbing small circles into her skin, just at the bone. It makes her swallow, glancing at it. "There are a few good places in town."

"Just not the Grill," Lizzie quickly says. "I don't want a certain mop-headed bird spying on us the entire time."

Kaleb grins and nods. "Alright then. No Grill unless Landon's got a different shift."

"I can't believe we're actually making plans for a _date._" Lizzie shakes her head in disbelief, smiling. 

"Well, believe it," Kaleb says softly, his own smile widening as he starts to lean back in.

She hums happily, moving to meet him. Suddenly all of her worries and doubts feel so empty and pointless. Even if she's known Kaleb for a year, this is still new. She can give it a chance, like Josie said. There's something about him, about kissing him, about this. It's...different. A very pleasant different.

In the back of her mind, she's aware that Josie's teasing is going to be even more relentless now that she's been proven right. It's only fair since Lizzie's plan was to do the same with Landon, with maybe a touch more complaining thrown Landon's way. 

"Just a question," she mutters without pulling away, "did you tell your sister I was hot?"

Kaleb's mouth curves against hers. "I might have mentioned it offhand. Did she tell you that?"

"Nope, not at all," Lizzie says, and quickly kisses him again as he starts to chuckle, knowing she's lying. She just had to be sure that Kym wasn't exaggerating any of the details. "Oh, and—" she pulls back just enough to look at him this time, concern slipping into her voice, "—MG's definitely over me, right? I don't want to cause any problems between the two of you, or—"

"I am absolutely one hundred percent positive," Kaleb assures her, and nods his head to the side. "Trust me. He's fine with it."

She follows his line of sight over to MG and Kym. They're caught up in their conversation, both smiling. The looks on their faces are undeniable, and the smile on MG's face is brighter than she thinks she's ever seen it aside from a couple of occasions when he was with Josie. 

Satisfied that he's right, she lets it drop there. The thought that this could actually work out well for once leaves her with a strange feeling in her chest. It's not all that bad. It's hopeful, and it grows, warming as Kaleb gives another nod to the side and keeps a hold of one of her hands as he walks back out to join everyone else. 

Lizzie happily goes with him, her heart fluttering and her smile practically impossible to wipe off. When she glances up at the sky, the sun has officially set, the sky dipping into an inky black with stars dotting it like a map. Georgia might not have been the worst place to spend her last few days of the summer break.


End file.
